Fame Isn't Everything--In Your Case, It's Nothing!
by Cetacea
Summary: *Sorato and other assorted couplings* Summaries make my teeth grow fur, so I'll keep it brief: Stars come. Odaiba. Mayhem. There.
1. Starts With Jelly From Outer Space Ends ...

This is my first try at a Digimon story, moreover, a Sorato one. I just want you to know that I don't own Digimon. Whoever thinks that I do, I bless, but they're all idiots. (I used that before!!! COOL!! It striketh again!!) Remember three things: these ages begin in Digimon 02, Digimon never happened and turtles rule!  
  
  
  
RRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
School was out and as the bell rang blaringly, the students of Odaiba High School filed out of their respective classrooms. Every student was talking excitedly and glad that it was Friday. Would you believe, two whole days before they returned to their hellhole? For some reason that will be explained later, there were strange-looking stains on a large portion of the student body's uniforms. One can only wonder how they came to be. But one need not wonder long. Locker doors slammed and opened and people stepped onto buses that would take them home, complaining about the schoolwork they would have to complete.  
  
One student, however, wasn't among these cheerful students heading home. Sora Takenouchi sighed and leaned back into the hard wooden chairs at the principal's office, watching all her happy colleagues in the window go by. She closed her crimson eyes and pushed back a strand of orange hair. She was quite a pretty girl, her body leanly athletic. It just wasn't fair. Aki started all of this. The secretary sat at her desk, typing away on her computer, clucking her tongue every now and then.  
  
Sora waited for the principal to call her in. She must have been really creamed by that tray... The minutes ticked by and she started to recall what had happened earlier that morning, why she was in the dog pound in the first place…  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Sora! Sora!" Akina Midori's voice loudly pierced her thoughts. Sora, startled, looked up from her book irritably and asked her friend, "What? This is the good part!"  
  
Aki was exasperated, her angular eyes slanting angrily. "You've read that for about a million or two times, Sora, don't you think that it's all right if I just ask you to eat something? Your nose is just too stuck in that book of yours. I'm betting that we couldn't pry it out with a crowbar!"  
  
Chloris Erato, the Grecian exchange student laughed softly. Her olive skin and dark hair had attracted many, but she always brushed them off because she was certain that they only went after her for her looks, not her personality. "Sora, you should pay more attention to what is going on around you. You may miss your lunch."  
  
"Did you hear?" Aki squealed excitedly. "Rumor's going around saying that there are going to be two famous personalities coming to attend Odaiba High! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!!!!!" she cried.  
  
Chloris was mildly interested, asking, "Which ones? There's a whole galaxy of stars out there."  
  
Sora rolled her eyes and returned to her book, tuning her best friends out as she picked up where she left off in her book.  
  
They were sitting at their table, eating lunch. Well, they were but Sora was busy reading her favorite book. Chaos, as usual, was going on around them before it gave birth to Gaea. (A/N: Hehe)  
  
Typically, the cafeteria tables were distributed to the school types. There were the jock types, where they were all jostling each other for the best positions to gawk and hit on the cheerleaders at the next table, who were giggling in the usual empty-between-the-ears way. There was the usual table were the nerds and the super-smart kids were, probably calculating how much calories they would obtain from the mystery meat loaf and toe-green jelly. The popular students inhabited the best part of the cafeteria, where the great open glass window was, showing a view of the spectacular gardens of Odaiba High. But as usual, they never really looked at the scenery. They took that table because it would give them the best view of whoever would fall flat on their faces into their lunch trays.  
  
There was also the mystic-gothic-Satanists-to-be table, where black candle wax stains replaced the normal "special" sauce stains. Let's face it. The "special" sauce is probably road kill carrion placed in a blender. The table where music-lovers occupied was filled with erratically tuned scrapes and tunes.  
  
Sora and her friends occupied the table where they weren't any bother to anyone. They weren't exactly loners, but they weren't totally extrovert either. Unnoticed, most of the time unless they happened to be unfortunate enough to cross the students who had 20-meter spikes up their butts.  
  
School life, as usual.  
  
Sora grudgingly put down her book and started to tentatively poke the jelly. It wiggled playfully, and that made her a little bit nervous about eating it. Was it alive? What kind of creature did the cafeteria lady put into this thing?  
  
She stared at it and it seemed to stare at her. "You know what?" she announced to her friends, never taking her eyes off the supernatural jelly. "I don't think that I'm that hungry. Maybe I'll just sit this meal out and eat something at home." She moved her gaze to her friends. "Please?"  
  
They frowned at her. "If we suffer, you suffer," Akina declared. "But you don't have to eat the jelly. I am not going to touch that thing, even if I had a ten-foot pole." She scooped up a bit of the wet meat with Sora's spoon and aimed for her.  
  
"I'm NOT eating that, Aki!" Sora protested. "Yesterday's salad was fine, but their meat was gray! Grey! Of all things!"  
  
"This is not gray, Sora dearest. It's green. Today is Green day."  
  
Akina thrust her spoon at Sora's mouth, but Sora pushed her arm aside, the saucy meat flying towards… her book. Sora opened her mouth to scream in bloody agony as it splattered all over the meticulously cleaned and glossed cover. Aki's eyes were wide with apprehension. Sora's face looked ready to kill.  
  
Sora glanced at her jelly, barely containing her rage, mentally apologized to it for what she was about to do and picked it up with a shaking hand and her knife with the other.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sora!" Akina squeaked out, normally slanted eyes wide in staring at the plastic knife. "I…I…"  
  
"Don't do it, Sora," Chloris whispered, yet her eyes were excited, goading her on. Well, there still may be hope for Chloris, after all. Who knows? There's still enough time…  
  
Sora smiled at her. Aki let out a huge breath and inhaled again—  
  
Just as Sora pitched the jelly at her open mouth, dumping it in with the precision of the best basketball player in the world.  
  
She laughed at Aki's disgusted expression as Aki started to choke on the jelly in her mouth.  
  
"IT'S DISGUSTING!!!!" Aki shrieked, thankfully not louder than the chaos going around. "SORA, I—I—I—" and fell to the ground in a faint, hitting the floor with a silent thud.  
  
Sora and Chloris stared at her inert body, and then glanced at each other.  
  
"She's faking it, right?" Sora asked her anxiously.  
  
Chloris shrugged. "What was the knife for?"  
  
Sora grinned. "Just to scare her for ruining my—" She let out a little scream as it dawned upon her. The sauce was drying on her book! She grabbed it quickly and started to scrub it viciously with her handkerchief. "No, no, no…" then she gave a sigh of relief as the hardened sauce cracked away.  
  
"Hey, what happened to Aki?" One other of their friends, Shina Wang, asked them as she stared at Aki's body on the sticky cafeteria floor, placing her tray on the ground next to her as she bent down and examined her companion. "Is she all right?"  
  
Sora and Chloris shrugged at the same time.  
  
"Maybe we'd better check," Sora suggested as she and Chloris got off their seats and bent down to take a look at Aki.  
  
Aki looked a little pale, but there was something about her face that got Sora wary. That smile wasn't there a while ago…she and Chloris looked up at each other at the same time, alarmed.  
  
"AHA! GOTCHA!!!" Aki suddenly jumped up, grabbing some of Shina's food and hurling it at Sora. Sora gasped and ducked quickly as the hunk of meat flew past her head—  
  
And splashed (A/N: Yes. Splashed. It wasn't that solid, after all) on Ekiro Meloki's braids, splattering all over her like a water balloon, causing her to drop her tray (Thank fortune that they were wrapped in plastic!). Simultaneously, Sora and her friends' eyes grew wide. Ekiro was NOT the kind of girl you'd mess with. She was a good six feet seven tall and two foot three wide. But that wasn't fat. It was bulk.  
  
Ekiro reached up a hand and touched her hair. Sora gulped. Ekiro slowly turned around and saw their eyes as wide as swimming pools. She let out a little growl. Aki turned pale as Sora began to feel her legs trembling with the urge to haul butt.  
  
"G-good morning, E-Ekiro," Chloris said brightly, but her voice was quivering with nervousness. "We, uh…we—"  
  
"Oh, are you the ones who did this?" Ekiro rounded on us.  
  
"I—I did it, but I was aiming for Sora!" Aki cried, pointing at me. "I'm really sorry Sora, Ekiro." As erratic Akina can be, she always knows when she has to act true.  
  
I smiled uncertainly and shrugged. "We didn't really mean for it to hit you. We're sorry."  
  
"Yeah," Ekiro said shortly. "You are sorry." She smiled evilly and picked up her tray, as the plastic had come loose. "And you're gonna get it."  
  
She suddenly hurled the pie at Aki, who ducked and it hit the boy behind her. The boy staggered a bit, then he angrily threw his tray at us—basically, they started a food fight. Soon, everyone in the cafeteria was drawn into it. Food flew into the air and back, pelting innocent bystanders, thus enticing them to retaliate. The air was thick with cafeteria jelly, meat, pasta, sauce, fruits and trays. Juices, sodas, milk and other drinks were being squirted freely all over the room. Unluckily, there were miniature pies on the trays, coconut-flavored. Y' ever hear of pie in the face?  
  
Just as Sora hopped up onto a table to hurl someone's tray at Chloris, somebody got her on the back of her head with a banana peel, and in doing that, caused her aim to go awry. So, as fate had it, the tray slammed full into the principal's face.  
  
SPLAT!  
  
"What is the meaning of this!!??" her furious voice roared.  
  
Suddenly, everything stopped. People halted in the positions of hurling rice bowls at each other's faces and suddenly paled. The principal could be really nasty if she wanted to be. She was very free in giving backbreaking punishments and gave off detentions as a bat gives out echolocations.  
  
Sora blanched, quickly hopping down from the table and landing gracefully. She shouldn't let innocent people take the blame. Aki couldn't afford to obtain any more detentions, as she had her entire schedule full of them that week before when the school carnival went into town, and Chloris couldn't stand to get a detention because the school in Greece was very strict and had high expectations for her.  
  
Whereas Sora…  
  
She softly cleared her throat, and in a vacillating voice, spoke out timidly, anxiously twisting her stained skirt between her two hands. "Um, Principal Suzuki, I'm—I'm the one who started this. I'm sorry."  
  
Principal Suzuki eyed her angrily. "Yes. Come with me. I will ask of you the details later."  
  
Sora sighed and followed the principal out the cafeteria door.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora leaned back and absently brushed green strands of pasta off her green uniform's sleeve. She started to hum softly to ease her tension. Would she get into trouble? She kept telling herself that she did the right thing, otherwise the lives of her friends would be ruined, some way or another. She glanced back at the wide window and saw Aki, Chloris and Shina waving at her and holding up a sign that had a "We're sorry!" scribbled onto it. She chuckled softly and smiled at them, forgiving them. They looked relieved.  
  
"A-ahem," a stern voice suddenly cleared its throat. It was the secretary. She stopped typing at her computer and looked straight at Sora as she stood up and held the door open for her. "Miss Takenouchi. Principal Suzuki would like to speak to you now. You may come in."  
  
**  
  
BUMBUMBUMBUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!! What'll happen to Sora? Is she in for it? And one more thing—where's Matt? Well, the next chapter is already done and over with, and I'm not putting it on until I either feel like it or get enough encouragement. Will the nice peoples please review??? 


	2. Starts With Punishment Ends With Confron...

**  
  
Hello!! I'm so happyful that people reviewed my story! Since I was rather encouraged by them, I decided to put the next chapter up, as few reviews as there were. But those reviews were good. All there people are so nice!!! My faith in humanity is restored, only to be knocked down several times by the recent happenings: EXAMS!!!  
  
**  
  
Sora figured that she actually got off pretty easy once she left the office and made her way down the hall. After all, it was her first offense. A pretty big offense, but it was her first. All Principal Suzuki asked her to do was clean up the cafeteria today and take detention from Monday to Wednesday, along with several other students who did a pretty good job of tossing chunks of food at other teachers. Nothing as bad as Aki's.  
  
She pushed open the double doors of the cafeteria and gaped. She quickly took back her words. She didn't get off easy, after all. As they say, out of the frying pan and into the fire. The cafeteria was a complete mess. Sora's mouth hung agape until one of the other students, Kioko Latsuni went up to her and handed her a mop and a rag.  
  
"We clean up now," she reminded Sora. Sora shut her mouth and nodded. Kioko gave her a little smile. "That was a fun food fight, though. Thanks, Takenouchi. I didn't know that you had it in you."  
  
Sora smiled weakly and started to mop off the floor where the nerds had sprayed ketchup, soy sauce and other assorted liquids at each other. It wasn't hard work, but she had to avoid slipping on the floor and crashing into the tables with the enormous mop. As soon as she finished cleaning that section up, she started to wipe off the tables. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. After all, Sora did this all the time at home to ease her mother's tension whenever the flower deliveries didn't arrive on time.  
  
She started to hum a song her mother taught her whenever she was busy. She hummed as she cleared the table of trays and dropped them into the tray chute. She hummed as she started to wipe the walls off. As she tried to reach a spot that was too high, she slipped on the ketchup stains she had missed and into a puddle of mustard face first.  
  
This was not doing wonders for her uniform.  
  
"No…" she grumbled. "Why me?"  
  
"Hey, you all right?" A hand reached down into her view. Sora looked up irritably, squinting, because the bright cafeteria lights that were behind the person shadowed the person who owned that hand. Suddenly, she lashed out with her foot and kicked the hand away. She deduced that it was a guy when she heard him yelp, "Ouch! You know, I'm willing to let that kick slide. That was pretty good. You need help?"  
  
Whoops. Maybe he did want to help her. It didn't really matter who it was, as long as he wanted to help her, so she reached out her hand and took his. Surprisingly, he pulled her up without any effort.  
  
"Thanks," Sora muttered. "I'm sorry for kicking your hand. I just felt mad at the world today." The guy laughed. She looked at him now that she could see his face as she wiped her face with a clean rag. He was garbed in the usual Odaiba High School uniform and looked to be her age. He had brown eyes and a full head of huge hair. Her eyebrow arched a little. This has gotta be one of the weirdest hairstyles I've ever seen, she thought as she gave him a weak smile. He looked familiar. (A/N: Like your dead girlfriend. Only when you smile, but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else. You go to the Cat's Scratch Club that's where I work; I dance, help me look! Yes! They used to tie you up. It's a living. I didn't recognize you without the handcuffs. We could light the candle—sorry. Rent song got into my head.)  
  
The guy brushed it aside lightheartedly. "Don't mention it. Are you the one who started this food fight?"  
  
Sora reddened. "And what if I am?" she challenged defiantly, defensively. (A/N: Words are fun to play with. They don't bite.)  
  
The guy laughed. "Then I would thank you because I'd rather clean up a cafeteria that has a few measly little stains than sit down and stare blankly at the detention supervisor's forehead. Besides, that was one of the best food fights I've ever had. By the way, I'm Tai."  
  
Measly little stains? Sora wondered, bewildered. The cafeteria was covered top to bottom with food slop.  
  
Sora smiled easily now that her face was free of stains. "I'm Sora Takenouchi. And yes, I did start the fight. I get detention on Monday to Wednesday."  
  
Tai's face brightened up. "Ooh! Then I'll meet you there, too!"  
  
"Really?" Sora couldn't help asking him, "What for?"  
  
Tai started to sound like a little kid eagerly ticking off the list of presents he had received at Christmas. "Well, first, me and my buddy Daisuke (he's several levels below me) threw lemonade into the pool during gym class when we had to go swimming when this really annoying girl was swimming so it made her look like she, you know…"  
  
Sora laughed, but she pitied the girl.  
  
Tai went on. "Anyway, we got detention for that. And just the other day, we got our friend, Izzy, to rig up all the computers to flash different colors and insults, putdowns and such. Izzy didn't get tagged for it, but Davis and I made sure that they knew who was responsible." He laughed. "That got us two weeks. Then there was the time when we went into the boys' bathroom with itching powder, toothpaste and—"  
  
Sora quickly cut him off, saying, "That's all right. I get it."  
  
Tai looked disappointed. "You sure you don't want to hear about it? It was a really good prank."  
  
Sora smirked. "I think that I'm fine with it now. Which teacher did you hit a while back?"  
  
"One of the best teachers to hit with food," Tai snorted. "I managed to get Professor Hataro in the back of the head with a wet baloney balloon. Your aim at Suzuki was pretty good."  
  
Sora blushed. "I didn't really mean to get her. I was aiming at my friend, Chloris."  
  
Tai shrugged. "Well, it was a good shot."  
  
Suddenly, Sora realized who he was. He was the school's star player in their soccer team. Taichi Kamiya. That's why he looked so familiar! Sora often longed to play soccer, but her mother wouldn't let her because her mother wanted her to play tennis and follow in her grandmother's footsteps. Sora always watched the soccer games from afar. She never missed a game.  
  
Her eyes grew wide. "You're Taichi Kamiya!"  
  
"Oh." Tai arched his eyebrow. "Didn't you know?"  
  
Sora rolled her eyes. "Don't be so full of yourself. I didn't recognize you at all and I've been to every soccer game in school. Maybe it's your distinct hairstyle that told me who you were. Imagine that. Hair talks."  
  
Tai shrugged. "It's hard to be famous. Sometimes you're recognized and treated like a king, sometimes you're not and treated like dirt."  
  
Sora shoved him playfully away and said, "Get back to work, Taichi Kamiya. We have to finish this cafeteria."  
  
Tai bowed. "As you wish, Lady Takenouchi." He sauntered away and started to mop the floor.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Mr. Yamato Ishida? Ms. Mimi Tachikawa?" Principal Suzuki's peered at the two teenagers, nudging her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose.  
  
"Actually, you can just call me Matt," the blonde adolescent put in. "It sometimes gets grating when little kids call me tomato."  
  
Suzuki's eyebrow lifted sardonically. "Alright, Mr. Ishida. Ms. Tachikawa, do you have anything to add?"  
  
The girl shook her head, sending dyed pink hair flying. "Mimi's my name so you call me Mimi."  
  
Suzuki's eyebrow lifted even higher. "Well. Mimi, Matt. I welcome you two to Odaiba High School. As large as you two are in the filmmaking and musical industries, in this school, you will be treated as other students who have part-time jobs. Meaning, you two will be no different than the other students, with the exception maybe of certain qualities, such as fame. But do not allow your busy schedules to interfere with your classes and responsibilities as a student. The two of you have chosen to attend school, thus you two must continually attend school. There will be no funny business allowed. Is this all clear, Mr. Ishida, Ms. Tachikawa?"  
  
The two youths nodded vigorously. "We actually wanted to come here to get away from all the glamour," Mimi said eagerly. "We kind of miss being normal kids." Her large brown eyes were incredibly fervent. She was telling the truth.  
  
"Is this true?" A pitying smile came upon the principal's face, looking at Matt.  
  
Matt shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, I guess." His icy blue eyes were hard to read.  
  
"Mister, that will be, 'yes', not, 'yeah'. Understood?"  
  
"Yeah—I mean, yes."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Thirty or so minutes later, the famous rock star and the award-winning actress stepped out of the Principal's office.  
  
"Was that a speech or what?" Yamato Ishida, lead singer of the Teenage Wolves, heartthrob of girls worldwide, drawled, holding the door open for Mimi Tachikawa, winner of the Emmy award twice. Mimi walked through, stepping into the hall, flipping her pink tresses over her shoulder.  
  
"It sure was," Mimi commented. "Come on, let's go to our homes. Mom is probably worrying about me at this moment." Mimi assumed a look of exaggerated worry with the ease of an experienced actress. "Did Mimi-kins get into school? Did she remember to smile a lot? Is my Mimi accepted into school?"  
  
Matt had to admit that her expression looked almost exactly like Mrs. Tachikawa's own, except that Mimi looked younger. "Auntie's not that bad," he protested. He simulated a similar look almost as easily as Mimi did, saying, "Did my little Mimi remember to put her deodorant on today? What if my darling smells bad? She is so worried! No, I must not think that. My angel Mimi is the most perfect little girl in the world!!!!"  
  
They both laughed. Matt and Mimi were distantly related, Matt's grandfather's cousin's cousin being Mimi's grandfather, but they were very close, both being the only Japanese-American in their families.  
  
They took a few more steps, and then Matt stopped and asked her, "Why are we doing this?"  
  
"Doing what?" came back Mimi's obvious reply. "We're walking!"  
  
"No, why are we going back to school? We already have our lives mapped out for us. Do we really need to return to this academic stuff?" Matt's eyebrows were furrowed.  
  
"Don't frown, Matt, it'll give you wrinkles," Mimi reminded him. "But we're going back to school because there's a great deal of many things we won't be able to know through our jobs. I also want to be with normal young people, instead of stuffy old directors and prissy makeup people. School is a great place to go!"  
  
"You used to curse the word 'school' a long time ago, Meems. Does this sudden change have anything to do with the fact that that fifty-cent extra called you a brainless uneducated little prick?"  
  
Mimi looked embarrassed. "You heard? God, I hope that doesn't make it to the tabloids. I'll never live it down."  
  
"Everyone heard her when she said that to you. The microphone system was running." Matt chuckled.  
  
Her face turned sour. "Yay. You see? This is why I wanted to go to school. Every single thing we people say are reported and criticized every day. Our privacy, or lack thereof, is frequently being intruded upon by nosy paparazzi. And you ask me why I wouldn't want to live a normal life?"  
  
Matt shrugged. "I enjoy it."  
  
"Well, our careers won't last forever, you know." Mimi scowled and said haughtily, "I'm going now." She stomped down the hall, opposite the entrance which they knew to be that way.  
  
"Uh, Mimi, you're going the wrong way!" Matt called to her.  
  
"I knew that! I'm supposed to have a discussion with the drama teacher in a few minutes and the theater office is this way!" With that, she turned the corner.  
  
Matt rolled his eyes. Sometimes, his cousin was way too high strung. (A/N: He just calls her his cousin to avoid any confusion.)  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora continued to clean the walls after making sure that the floor she stood on was clean. By now, the cafeteria was beginning to look like its former self. Most of the stains were gone by now and shining with cleanliness.  
  
Sora was finishing her scrubbing of the tables and by now started on the floor. Since she had started the food fight, she received the harsher punishment and when the other students, including Tai, were allowed to leave, she wasn't and still had an hour of polishing the doors of the school as an extra punishment for slopping the tray on the Principal.  
  
So there she was, in plain view for everyone to mock her, meticulously scrubbing the double doors of the entrance of Odaiba High School, leaning on them as she attempted to reach certain spots. Sora wished that Principal Suzuki would come and tell her that she was allowed to go home, but to no avail, for Principal Suzuki was apparently busy with the Drama teacher. They were planning this dance thing, perhaps.  
  
She shook her head to clear her mind. The sooner she got this cursed door cleaned to shine, the sooner she could barge into the Principal's office and tell her that the doors were spick and span. Sora turned her attention back to a nasty little blot that refused to disappear and began to scrub viciously.  
  
Suddenly, she was knocked over as someone stomped out the door, landing on the hard cement steps and tumbling down to the grass ("Ow! OW! OW!!!"). Sora lay there on her back, eyes shut and trying to get her air back, wondering when her torment would end. Why me?  
  
"Watch it!" someone snapped. Probably the person who slammed the doors open and caused Sora to relive the days when she hated rollercoasters. She took a deep breath before painfully standing up and glaring at the jerk.  
  
He was an inch or so taller than she was, with a head of silky-looking blond hair and regal azure eyes. He couldn't be a student, Sora deemed, because he wasn't wearing the uniform. He was clothed in a black shirt and pants. And he had a scowl on his face.  
  
**  
  
OK, so there isn't much Sorato in this story, either, but hey! It's a start. This wasn't a long chapter, but it was refreshing. I like the way I make Mimi not too ditzy. It's really hard. It appears that Matt doesn't really want to go to school and Mimi does. I mean, MIMI, the pink girl! Ouch.  
  
I'd also like to thank all those people who reviewed, and to someone who asked, aye, aye, you are all very nice. Please review and remember: THERE ARE PICKLES IN HEAVEN!!!!! 


	3. Starts With Confrontation Ends With A Ne...

MWAMWAMWA!!!!! I am back with another chapter! Thou all art subject to my will… Thou all art subject to my will… Thou all art subject to my will… Thou all art subject to my will…so…REVIEW ME!!!  
  
Okeley-dokeley. ON WITH THE STORY!!!  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"What's your problem?" the brownish-red haired girl stood up and glared at Matt with her hands on her hips. Her irises were a fiery crimson. He noticed that she had a school uniform on, so she must have been a student.  
  
"Excuse me, you little rat, but who do you think you are?" Matt couldn't help saying those harsh words, but something that Mimi said placed a notion into him. What if their careers were cut short somehow? Besides, he was about to apologize but his mouth ran away when he saw the girl sprawled on the grass, embarrassed if anyone ever saw that.  
  
Rat??? "Well, who do you think you are?" Sora glared at him. She couldn't believe how high and mighty this guy's attitude was. What, did he think that he was the coolest thing in Japan since sushi? (A/N: Couldn't resist. Sushi good.) And who was he?  
  
Didn't this rude girl know who he was? "Don't you know who I am?" he asked as superiorly as possible, wondering what sort of a haughty girl this was. How could she not know him?  
  
OK, this guy's head is more puffed-up than the Goodyear Blimp. Sora narrowed her eyes. "Should I know who you are?" she asked dangerously.  
  
The guy started to make his way down the steps. "It doesn't matter. You don't deserve to know." He decided that she was a student of Odaiba High School, from seeing the uniforms of the girls in pictures in Principal Suzuki's office. She would eventually find out who he is. He silently wished that he would be present when she made her reaction.  
  
Sora glowered. "Whatever."  
  
Matt strolled away, just as Principal Suzuki stepped out off the double- doors and inspected the door. "Ah, Miss Takenouchi. Good job. You may leave now. Be sure to remind your parents of your detentions."  
  
Sora bowed respectfully. "Yes, Principal Suzuki." She let out a silent sigh of relief as Principal Suzuki turned away and marched back up the steps. She could go home now.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Matt couldn't believe that that girl didn't know who he was. Or how rude she was to him. He was a celebrity, for crying out loud. (A/N: Someone's ego is a little puffed up, don't you think?  
  
He turned this over in his mind as he made his way home, unscathed by screaming girls, for once. It must be too late, he deduced, for them to hunt for him. But there would be plenty time to hound him on Monday. He was, after all, attending Odaiba High School, a co-ed school. Boys and girls.  
  
Matt suddenly remembered that his little brother, TK would be attending school somewhere in the area, too. He decided that he would just ask his father when he got home. He speculated whether TK was all right or not. Since Matt's stardom, he and TK have grown closer. One time, on his tour, he even stopped by his mother's apartment and spent the night there. He realized that he was glad to learn that his mother still loved him.  
  
He smiled and chuckled, entering the building he lived in after greeting the doorman.  
  
He entered his apartment that he shared with his father and straight to his room, promptly falling asleep on the bed.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
As Sora slipped into the door, she slipped out of her shoes and into her slippers. (A/N: And she slipped across the floor to slip on her bed. HA! Get it?) She noticed that her mother was home, cooking dinner.  
  
"I'm home, mother!" Sora called to her as she headed quickly to her room.  
  
"Sora Takenouchi," a stern voice suddenly sounded out. Sora slowly turned around and saw that her mother had appeared in the doorway of the kitchen in their apartment, folding her arms and staring right at her. "Why are you home so late?" There was a warning tone in her voice.  
  
"Uh…" Sora bit her lip. "I had to do a detention today."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"I kind of started a food fight, mother. I'm sorry."  
  
"Is your detention only for today?"  
  
Sora shook her head. "I still have detention from Monday to Wednesday."  
  
"Now, why did you—" But Mrs. Takenouchi's sentence was cut off short as the kettle in the kitchen whistled for attention at the same time her phone in her room burst into a trilling sound. Accompanying this lovely cacophony was the shrill beeping of the stove.  
  
Sora and her mother looked amazed. They glanced at each other and broke into laughter.  
  
"You're off the hook, now, Sora," her mother told her, wiping a tear from her eye. "But I'll expect the gory details later." She then turned back into the kitchen and hurried to finish cooking.  
  
The brownish-red-head girl chuckled and walked down the hall and entered her room. The phone was still ringing. She picked up the phone and placed it to her ear, greeting, "This is Sora Takenouchi speaking."  
  
"SSSSSSOOOOOOORRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" Aki's voice exploded out of the telephone. "SSSSSHHEEE'SS HHEEERREE!!!" Sora held the phone a good distance away from her ear as she waited for Aki's frenzy to die down. When it did, she tentatively placed it to her ear.  
  
Sora rolled her eyes. "A little louder, Aki. My eardrums aren't completely obliterated yet."  
  
"Sorry, Sora, but—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" her best friend let out another ear-piercing scream, causing Sora to drop the phone.  
  
"What was that?" Sora's mother barged through the open door. "Who was yelling?"  
  
Sora glanced up at her mother as she picked up the phone. Mrs. Takenouchi was wearing cooking mittens and an enormous goofy chef's hat and a frilly pink apron. (A/N: Sound familiar to you? I'll give ya 10 points.) She was wielding a spatula like a sword and had soot in her face. Sora burst out laughing.  
  
Mrs. Takenouchi looked at the mirror and laughed, too. She said sheepishly, "I guess everything's fine here. I'll go back now." And she departed from the room, leaving Sora on the floor, doubled up. As soon as Aki's hysterics calmed a bit, Sora picked up the phone again and said, "Aki, my friend, if your goal in this phone call was o damage my eardrums, it has worked."  
  
"My apologies, Sora. I actually called you to say thanks for not giving me away with Principal Suzuki. But then I turned on my TV! Sor, you've gotta look! It's—"  
  
"Sure, Aki," Sora cut in. "But what is it about? I'd rather know beforehand. Last time I did that, my mother saw the screen and nearly banned me from TV."  
  
"Really? Well, nothing like that now. Did you know that Yamato Ishida and Mimi Tachikawa are already HERE in Odaiba???"  
  
Sora thought hard. "I think that you already told us that, Aki. What's the big deal?"  
  
"WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL???" Aki bellowed into the phone. "WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? SORA! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT THEY'RE ATTENDING OUR SCHOOL??? OUR SCHOOL???????"  
  
"You've told us that, too," she informed her highly amusing friend. "In fact, I think that you told me and Chloris that they're attending on Monday. And?"  
  
"AND? What do you mean, 'and'?" Aki's screeched. "Sora!!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU????? YAMATO ISHIDA IS THE LEAD SINGER OF THE TEENAGE WOLVES! HE'S EVERY GIRL'S DREAM!!!!"  
  
"Well not mine," Sora interrupted. "And what are the Teenage Wolves?" she asked curiously.  
  
"What planet are you from?" Aki was clearly panicking. "Are you telling me that you don't know the Teenage Wolves? The top scorers of the hit list every time they release a new album? A new song? The only boy band that absolutely has NO gay guys??? Do you know how rare that is nowadays???"  
  
"Well, now I know," Sora said a little irritatedly. So what if she never heard of this downright impossible boy band? Who had ever heard of a purely masculine boy band? Ridiculous. There's always a fairy somewhere in those things. (A/N: Hehe.)  
  
"I'm also guessing that you don't know who Mimi Tachikawa is, either," Aki stated. Sora assumed that she had cooled down by now, so she chose her words carefully.  
  
"No, I do." She grinned. "Don't worry. Isn't she the girl in the Digimon series? But I don't get how a cartoon could attend our school."  
  
"What on earth are you talking about? YOU'RE STILL WATCHING THAT???"  
  
"Hey, it's a cool show. But when you think about it, they do have the same names."  
  
"Sora. Did you know that there's more to life than a television screen?"  
  
"I'm not the one with her nose plastered to the screen, gazing in rapt admiration while arguing with her uninterested friend."  
  
"How did you kno— hey, wait a second. Are you telling me that you're uninterested? You mean you don't care about this? At all? Did I hear that? Don't tell me I heard you say that you don't care about this…"  
  
"Give the girl a prize. Curtain number one, number two or number three? Choose now and you may win a week of homework along with your lovely prize and an all-expenses paid trip to Odaiba High School in School Bus Number 13!"  
  
"Very funny." Aki's voice was dry. "Very, very funny."  
  
Sora shrugged, although she knew that Aki couldn't see her. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that her vision was totally taken up by the whirling colors on the TV screen. "I try."  
  
"Just watch it, Sora. For me?"  
  
"And that's even funnier."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The next day, as Sora left, walking to the flower shop, she let her thoughts roam to the news of the two celebrities enrolling into the school. She wondered why Akina was so excited about it. After all, they would probably just want to be common again. They were supposed to be treated equally as other students. So why was everybody so worked up about it? Even her mother knew, for some reason.  
  
So as she waited for the sign to let her walk across the road, she saw Aki run up to her.  
  
"Not you." Sora slapped her forehead in mock irritation. (Although some of it was genuine, too.)  
  
"I was wondering when you would arrive!" Aki exclaimed. "I've been waiting forever! Can you open the door now?"  
  
"I pity your soul. Why don't you ask my mother for a key to the store?"  
  
Aki shrugged. "I just never get around to doing it, I guess."  
  
Sora unlocked the door of her mother's shop and crossed into the threshold scented with the sweet aroma of flowers. She and Aki were going to take the shift for her mother while she could. Her mother asked it of them, and they needed the extra money. Besides, they both had nothing to do on Saturday. No appointments or anything. Except for tennis practice, but that would be later on. "Come on in, Aki."  
  
"Sora, I don't get why you're not excited! These two are the best things to happen in our time except for that day when all the teachers came to school dressed up as a Pikachu." Aki paused. "That wasn't really that great. They still piled up the homework on us. But it was funny, anyway."  
  
Sora laughed softly as she remembered that day. It was hilarious. She and Aki started to set up the flowers. Pretty soon, several customers filed in, speaking about a wedding and business.  
  
It was around three o'clock when their next customer came in through the door, causing the bell hooked onto the door to ring and their heads to look up. She, in Sora's opinion, looked downright weird. She was wearing an incredibly short white skirt (shorter than their school uniforms, and that's awesomely short!) and a brightly colored t-shirt with a star. But that wasn't exactly what unnerved Sora and Aki. It was her hair. It was vibrantly dyed pink and had little stars all over it. (A/N: 10000 points to the lucky donkey who can guess who this girl is! But 10 points only to the people. Donkeys are special.)  
  
Sora shuddered at the thought of her mother's reaction if she ever came home wearing that hairstyle.  
  
Aki immediately swung into business. "May we help you, miss?" she asked formally. "We have some lovely dahlias that suit any occasion."  
  
Sora wondered if she should've called the police. Aki was never too polite to the customers. She always snapped, "What do you want?" if she was in a bad mood or at least a, "Good morning." And this pink-haired teenager who looked a year or so younger than they did…Hmm…Maybe the X-Files would do better.  
  
Not willing to be outdone, she swooped up a bouquet of lovely roses. "I think that these would go better with your hair," she told the girl, pretending to look critical in her examination of the bouquet. Sora was amused by how happy the girl seemed.  
  
"Everyone in this town is so NICE!" The girl, Sora noticed, had an extremely high-pitched voice. "I'll just look around, if it is all right." She let out a laugh. Sora winced, remembering the blow to her eardrums on the telephone conversation the night before. She expected Aki to snigger or at least show some subtle mockery of the girl's voice.  
  
But to Sora's amazement, Aki only gaped at the girl in what seemed to her like worship.  
  
"Aki!" Sora hissed, tugging the girl's sleeve. "AKINA MIDORI!"  
  
"Wha—what?" Aki looked startled. She turned to look around and saw her friend tugging her sleeve. "What's up?"  
  
Sora whispered irritably. "Why on earth are you staring at that girl like she's some goddess? Well, she's not. She just looks like a girl with weird pink hair! I mean, look at it! There are stars in her hair."  
  
Aki looked scandalized. "Don't you recognize that girl, Sora? It's Mimi Tachikawa!"  
  
"Mimi Taichi-who?"  
  
"Not Taichi. He's a soccer player at school."  
  
"I know that. I met him yesterday, at the cafeteria, while we were cleaning up the filth. Tai's a cool guy."  
  
"You had to clean that mess up? I pity you—wait. You met Taichi Kamiya and you didn't even tell me? Sora! What kind of a friend are you? You meet one of the most popular guys at school and you are on nickname basis with him and you don't even bother advising your best friend?"  
  
Sora shrugged, watching as Mimi Tachiwaka or something like that sifted through the store, smelling flowers and touching petals. She wanted to make sure that this bizarre girl whose ground Aki so willingly worshipped wouldn't steal any flowers. As good Aki's judgment of people was, she didn't want to take any chances. "I didn't get the chance to tell you."  
  
"Didn't get the chance to? What are you talking about? I called you last night and we spent hours talking on the phone!"  
  
"You mean hours you spent talking on the phone," Sora corrected, absently adjusting the flowers on a vase on the counter. "I was listening. Well, partly. I was nodding off at some point."  
  
Aki sniffed. "Some friend you are. I would've told you if I met a local personality, but it seems that you wouldn't care enough to inform me."  
  
"Would I care?"  
  
"Well…" Aki looked pensive. "Maybe not. But—"  
  
"Excuse me? I've picked something out already," interrupted the incredibly high-pitched voice. Aki's and my head swiveled around to glance at the smiling pink-haired girl. She was holding a large bouquet of rare and tropical flowers. "Isn't it lovely?"  
  
Immediately, the two girls swung back into business. Sora stepped in behind the cashier and Aki took the spray of flowers to wrap them up.  
  
"That'll be $149, are you sure that you can pay for that? It's a pretty expensive bouquet." She glanced at the girl. "Maybe you would like to try something a little less expensive? After all, whoever you're buying this for will probably think that it's the thought that counts."  
  
The girl shrugged. "I'm only buying it for a friend. But he's been such a good friend for a long time and we just got into a fight, but I'm willing to pay for it." She slapped a credit card onto the counter. "Ring it up for me, will you?"  
  
Sora shrugged. "Have it your way." Either way, I would be earning. Hehe…  
  
Aki gaped at the credit card on the counter. Then she looked up at the girl in awe. "Are you really Mimi Tachikawa?"  
  
The pink-haired girl grinned at Aki. "Yep. It says right there on the credit card."  
  
Aki exploded. "OH, MY GOD!!!" She immediately rushed around the counter and bowed several times. "I totally worship your movie! I think you're the coolest actress in the world! Sora, give her a discount!"  
  
Mimi and Sora glanced at each other. The latter cracked a smile. "That'll still be $149. No discounts because this store treats everyone equally. Even I don't get discounts and mother owns this store."  
  
"Thanks," Mimi Tachikawa said gratefully.  
  
"Y'know, it must be hard to be such a famous person with people like that around," Sora remarked, glancing accusingly at Aki. "How the heck do you get anywhere with all that groveling?"  
  
Mimi laughed, a sound that chilled my spine. It wasn't scary, but so shrill. "I get it everyday."  
  
"Are you really going to go to Odaiba High School?" Aki asked eagerly. "Because we could show you around and all that. What year are you entering?"  
  
Mimi replied, "If you're fifteen years old, I'm entering your year, although I'm fourteen. I got skipped up a level the last time I went to school." (A/N: Hard to believe, eh?)  
  
"How long ago was that?"  
  
"When I was eight or nine or so. That was before the acting industry picked me up." Aki and Mimi started gabbing away and exchanging gossip and all that stuff. I toned them out, starting to ring up the sale.  
  
"Here you go, Ms. Tachikawa." Sora handed Aki the bag, giving Mimi a little salute. Sora inwardly grinned. This was great! $149 bucks in the till! (A/N: Is it just me, or is Sora developing an "I love money" personality?)  
  
Aki passed her the flowers and said, "Please come again."  
  
Mimi beamed at the two of us and announced, "I would like to meet the two of you again. You two are the nicest people I've ever met! Can we be friends?"  
  
"OF COURSE!" Aki nearly burst with happiness. "I knew all those tabloid rumors were false! You're the best person ever, Meems!" Aki paused. "Is it all right if I call you that?" She looked nervous.  
  
"Definitely!" Mimi answered cheerfully, hugging the bouquet to her chest. "Now that we're friends, can I ask you two your names?"  
  
"Silly me!" Aki slapped her forehead. "I'm Akina Midori, but you cannot call me Akina. Just Aki. This is Sora Takenouchi. You call her Sora."  
  
Sora chuckled. "But you can also call this girl Bubblehead. It seems that that's what happens when rumors about teenage celebrities attending her school turn out to be true."  
  
The three girls laughed. Even Aki.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
****  
  
WELL! How do you think? If you think that I should put up the next chapter any time soon, you'd better make sure that I study hard and that I see the review count rise. Otherwise, I'm not going anywhere. Yes, this is all a plot to get people to review my story. Too bad. Well, if all of you think that there is no hope anymore because this is a dumb story, feel a little lighter-hearted (or down-hearted, if you look at it in a different way). I may get so bored with studying and reviewing that I might just feel like posting the next chapter, which is already completed.  
  
Yes, I'm just doing it to torture you. Actually, I'd rather study, at the moment. I'm going to graduate to high school!!!! O_o!! 


	4. Starts With A New Friendship Ends With A...

I'm…BBAAAAAAAAAAAACCCHHHHH!!!! Or maybe Mozart, my hero! Willie m'boy! Fetch me a glass o' juice and we'll get a-started with the story. Thanks to all the people who reviewed, you all gave me more reason to continue. Mabuhay Sorato! Mabuhay Pilipinas! Mga pinoy, huwag mag-alala! Mabait ang Diyos,, kaya magkakaroon na tayo ng pandaidigang kapayapaan at Kalayaan para sa buong mundo!  
  
****  
  
Yamato Ishida had a lot on his mind, but little to do.  
  
He was strolling around in the park on Saturday, enjoying the peace. After all, it would be hard to have peace in school on Monday once his fan girls knew where he was. Matt was always a fan of playing soccer, but his career of music usually took up his time for the game. He used to be on his school's soccer team, but when his schedule became too trying, he had to quit it.  
  
In this school, Matt was hoping to be able to try out for the team. Goalie would be nice. Maybe forward would be fun.  
  
So Matt brought his old soccer ball to school, bouncing it around and doing little tricks that he had done so long ago that he nearly forgot how to do them in the first place. He was in an empty field, a lovely meadow where he could have peace while practicing for soccer when his kick suddenly went haywire and shot the ball out from under his feet erratically.  
  
He cursed because he was thinking about the girl who he had knocked over the day before. She was a pretty girl, but he'd seen prettier. She seemed angry at him. Well, duh. You knocked her over and didn't even say sorry. You think she'd be shouting with joy?  
  
The ball shot out and suddenly, there was a thump. Matt recognized that thump. The ball had hit someone.  
  
He quickly sprinted to the grove where the ball had gone and saw someone walking out. His hair was chocolate brown and defying the rule of gravity. It was enormous! The guy was holding his soccer ball. (A/N: There's 10 points being given out here!)  
  
"Hey," he slowed down his sprint. "That's mine."  
  
"I know that." The guy grinned. He looked about 15, Matt's age. "You were doing pretty well before the ball decided to hit me. What happened?"  
  
Matt looked sheepish. "Well, I had a lot on my mind. I'm sorry if it hit you."  
  
"T's all right. I caught it before it smashed my face it. I'm Taichi Kamiya. Tai, actually. You look new to Odaiba." He handed me back my ball.  
  
Matt nodded. "Yeah. In fact, I am new to Odaiba. I'm attending Odaiba High School on Monday with my cousin. My name's Matt Ishida."  
  
"Travel a lot?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
So Tai and Matt proceeded to continue the conversation and soon, they started kicking the soccer ball around together. Tai was really good at it. Matt asked him if he played on a team and found out that he played in the OHS team.  
  
He was relieved to know that he was enrolled in the same school. At least he knew someone other than Mimi and that rude girl. After all, hanging out with girls all the time might make a guy seem…gay, or something. And that was one thing Matt did not need on the tabloid newspapers. Besides, who said that he was going to hang out with the redhead?  
  
Surprisingly enough, Matt's fame was unknown to Tai. As popular as Tai was in Odaiba High School, it turned out that he never really listened to rock music, but he admired classical music. (A/N: Weird for Tai, but I LOVE classical music!) Matt thought that that was cool. He always thought highly of classical music, especially baroque and renaissance. He knew how to play the piano and often wondered where that path would lead him if he dedicated himself to it.  
  
Matt decided not to tell Tai who he was. After all, he didn't want his friendships to be ruined with the fact that he was an icon. He would tell Tai in time, but at the moment, he needed to practice for the team. He didn't want Tai's head to be up in the sky with amazement, so he kept it a secret.  
  
The two of them spent the day kicking the ball around idly. Tai gave Matt some pointers to help improve his skills and hoped that Matt would be able to join the team.  
  
Tai informed him, "Soccer tryouts are on Wednesday. Thursday if you miss it. The coach is a cool person. She won't blow you over for missing tryouts. But you'd better practice well because there's this girl I know of who has a mean kick. She just might make it into the team, if she's interested. She shows as much promise as you do."  
  
Matt shrugged. "Then I'll have to beat her."  
  
Tai looked pleased. "Well, this would liven things up a bit. Other than that silly rumor going around."  
  
"Which one is that?"  
  
"The one that stated that a bunch of stars are crashing into our school."  
  
Matt fidgeted a little. "Well, never mind that. Let's start practicing."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sunday was passing quickly for the people of Odaiba. For some reason, there was a large quantity of young people listening to gossip. I'm supposing that you all know why. The girls of Odaiba High School were extremely excited, for once, eager to go to school. Some people, though, had no idea of what was happening and apparently didn't care.  
  
"KARI!!" Tai's voice rang through the young girl's room. "YOUR STUPID CAT KNOCKED MY DRINK ALL OVER MY HOMEWORK!!!!"  
  
Kari Kamiya sighed irritably. An argument like this happened every night. Although she and her older brother often enjoyed these fights, she was in no mood for it tonight. She had to contact TK somehow for a project that was due for Tuesday. She tried calling him several times (all right. The whole freaking day.), but she never reached him. Always his machine. Just a while ago, she went to his building and attempted to see him, but she rang the doorbell all day and pounded on the door and never got a response.  
  
And right now, she was doing math homework (algebra) that didn't want to be solved. It stubbornly refused to give her the answers she needed.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kari shouted. "Miko is right here!" She picked up her cat.  
  
"Well, your Miko just spilled mom's soda on my homework, thus making it more incomprehensible than it usually is! The teacher won't accept it at all!"  
  
"Yeah, well what do you want me to do about it!?" she yelled back at him.  
  
"How about killing your cat?" His head poked through the door, bushy hair nearly dismantling the door. "That'll do just fine. It just might make me feel forgivable enough."  
  
Kari reached for her old stuffed toy and threw it at his head. "Get lost! I'm trying to do my homework!"  
  
"I was, too, then it turns out that all the work that I spent three hours on has gotten mom's special soda all over it!"  
  
Kari rolled her eyes. "So what, Tai? It's just soda. Besides, Tai, brother dear. That was just addition! Addition! I'm doing algebra, and you're bugging me, so I cannot submit this tomorrow if you keep at it!"  
  
Tai retorted, "It may just be soda, but it's Mom's soda! What's worse, it's Mom's special soda! Do you know what that stuff does to metal? Moreover, do you know what it does to a single sheet of paper? It's a million times worse!"  
  
"Then do it again! Tai, you make such big problems out of minor nuisances! You copied the problems in your notebook and you have your solutions on a different piece of paper!"  
  
"But I can't understand my own writing! It makes my head hurt to look at it!"  
  
"That's your own problem, so leave me alone! Leave Miko alone, too!" She gave him a warning glance.  
  
Tai stopped. "What's wrong, Kari? You look a little frazzled."  
  
"Well, of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that you are bugging me! My brain already hurts from algebra and your stupid Mozart CD's. I'm perfectly fine!!" She threw down her pencil in frustration.  
  
"Kari, you know you can always tell me." Tai sat down on her bed, clearing it of all the clutter Kari had previously dumped onto her new bed. 'New' because Kari had finally convinced her parents that she needed her own room. After all those years sharing a room with her infuriating but fun older brother, she needed it. "After all, big brothers are supposed to solve their little sisters' problems if it gets too bad."  
  
"Not if they're math problems," Kari muttered, shooting him a dark look. "And then they make it worse by giving inexplicable explanations for the equations."  
  
Tai grinned. "That's what we do. Oh, and by the way, does your problem have anything to do with that project that you and TK have to finish for school on Tuesday?"  
  
Kari looked up, amazed. "How did you know?" She wondered if there was some psychic brain after all in all that mass of bushy hair.(A/N: No insult to Tai fans here, but these are sibling things.)  
  
"Well, you've been telling me all about this exciting picture project that you have to do for weeks then nothing happens," Tai answered.  
  
Kari looked glum. "Maybe I should've just done it with Yolei. Or Davis, maybe. But TK seemed like the perfect choice! He's always so responsible and all that that something must be wrong!"  
  
Tai shrugged. "Just—"  
  
RRIINGG!!! The phone in the kitchen suddenly went off.  
  
"I'll get it!" Kari yelped eagerly, hopping off her chair and running past Tai. "It might be TK!"  
  
Tai muttered gloomily about something that sounded like, "Ungrateful little sister," but Kari couldn't put it past him to try.  
  
Kari grabbed to wall phone and said, "Hello?"  
  
"Kari!" her friend Yolei Inoue cried on the other end of the telephone conversation. "Did you hear the news? Did you hear the news? I can't believe it! This is actually happening! I'm so thrilled!"  
  
"Oh. Hi, Yolei."  
  
"Kari, you don't sound too happy to hear me. But I'm sure that you'll be happy to hear this!"  
  
"Joy of joys."  
  
"Kari, what's the matter? It's not like you to be this unhappy."  
  
"Well, TK and I are supposed to do this project for Tuesday, I've got the pictures already, but every time I call him, I just get his machine! I tried to go to his house yesterday but he wouldn't come to the door." Kari tried not to sound like she was complaining, but she couldn't help it. She was mad at TK. "Is he putting me off on purpose?"  
  
"Kari, Kari, Kari."  
  
"Yes, Yolei, Yolei, Yolei?"  
  
"Stop that. And since you need to know in order not to kill TK tomorrow at school, I'll tell you. TK's brother is coming back into town! He's going to Odaiba High School tomorrow!"  
  
"Matt's coming back? That's great but it's no excuse! He should've at least told me that he'd be busy so I could finish the project on my own. That boy's in for it, big time. That stupid blonde'd better watch out."  
  
Yolei laughed. "That stupid, good-looking blonde."  
  
Kari sighed. "Yolei, must you always talk about boys? It could get trying for the people who don't care."  
  
"Well, if you don't want him—"  
  
"That's enough, Yolei. I think I'll go finish my algebra now."  
  
"But I haven't told you yet who Matt—"  
  
"Bye, Yolei."  
  
Kari hung up the phone. She would apologize to Yolei tomorrow, but at the now, she was furious. Why was TK so irresponsible that he wouldn't tell her that he couldn't make it? How come he told Yolei that Yamato Ishida was back in town and not her?  
  
Well, whatever the answers were, she would get them tomorrow.  
  
One way or the other.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora and Aki walked to school together the next day. It was Monday. Their houses were close by so it was no big deal for any of them to meet at a certain point in the neighborhood.  
  
Yesterday, they spent the day with the famous actress, Mimi Tachikawa. Sora was startled to realize that all actresses weren't as stuck up as she thought they were, after all. Mimi was very down-to-earth. They had become the best of friends in just a short span of time.  
  
"Sora, I can't believe that we're best friends with the Mimi Tachikawa!" Aki exclaimed as she bounced along jauntily, waving at everyone who walked past her. "I mean, yesterday, we were a bunch of nobodies, and now we're chums with a famous actress! That's a large turn of luck. Chloris was so astounded when I called her last night! She's eager to meet Mimi, too."  
  
Sora smiled and nodded her head. "Let's step up a little. I want to get to school early. Things today are going to be interesting."  
  
****  
  
OK, rather short chapter, but thou shalt not worry. Sorry, though, about that sudden burst of patriotism back there. Actually, I'm not sorry. MABUHAY! Review and I love you!! Or not, but it rhymed so I got it. The Sorato will appear in the next few chapters disguised as a hideous crone, so it might be a while before Matt and Sora get together. You'll just have to wait and hope that one day, I will feel like putting it in! 


	5. Starts With Anticipation Ends With A Lot...

Hi, hello, good morning/afternoon/night/whatever! I have returned!!!...with the next story!!! Anyway, thank you to all you lovely reviewers out there. A little more would be nice…please? Hehe. You don't really have to. I just like to see the numbers rise.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"MATT!!" Malcolm (A/N: That's his name, right?) Ishida yelled. "Get up or you're going to be late for school!"  
  
"Five more minutes, Dad!" Matt moaned into his pillow. "Just five more minutes."  
  
"A famous rock star," Mr. Ishida grumbled. "Right. SON! GET DOWN HERE!!!" he bellowed. A few minutes later, his eldest son stumbled down the stairs. They had moved to a better apartment since Matt's stardom. They finally had a couch now. Several actually.  
  
"Good morning, Yamato." Mr. Ishida handed him a plate stacked with syrupy pancakes. "Here's a good breakfast for you. You'll need your health and strength to battle with the teachers today and escape from your groupies." Matt's father shook his head, clucking his tongue. "I can't believe that they have the nerve to follow you around and pester you like that. Maybe I should do something…"  
  
Matt shook his head quickly, shoving his disheveled hair out of his blue eyes. "No, no. I can manage, Dad. In point of fact, it keeps me on my toes." He was positive that whatever his father would attempt to get the fans to leave him alone, it would embarrass him, one way or another.  
  
Mr. Ishida shrugged and said, "Suit it yourself. But don't come running back to me when they start to take your clothes."  
  
Matt rolled his eyes and started to eat his breakfast. It was all right, a little burnt, to be honest, but they tasted fine if you placed enough syrup and butter.  
  
As soon as he finished and got ready for school, Mr. Ishida announced, "Now, we will go and pick up your cousin, Mimi. Her mother told us that we're going to have to bring her to school for a few days."  
  
Matt shrugged. "OK. I'm ready, Dad."  
  
Malcolm Ishida then struck a pose. "Let us be off!" and charged out the door.  
  
Matt gaped.  
  
Dad sure is weird today.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
As Sora and Aki turned the corner that would inevitably lead them to Odaiba School, they were greeted by the sight of a massive mob gathered outside on the gates of school (More like the gates of hell, actually…).  
  
They stood there at the crossing sign, gawking at the crowd. A lot of them were carrying signs that basically yelled out, "Yamato Ishida is Mine!" or "Mimi! WE LOVE YOU!" A lot of them were students, but there was quite a good number of reporters and media people mixed in the crowd, too.  
  
Sora and Aki were soon joined by Chloris Erato and Shina Wang. The four of them stood staring in bewilderment at the crowd. There were a lot of familiar faces in the throng. Jun Motomiya, for one thing, was wielding a sign that shouted, "I AM YAMA'S GIRLFRIEND!!!" and pushing screaming girls aside.  
  
Sora turned to look at her friends. "Now how are we going to get inside the school? Any suggestions?" She turned back to watch as the crowd started to sing a song that Sora heard once on the radio. It was by the Teenage Wolves, she decided. After all, Aki told her that Matt was the lead singer of the group.  
  
"Nothing comes to mind," Shina said, nudging her glasses up her nose.  
  
Aki sighed. "OK. We're in for it. Shina's the smartest girl in class and she can't find a solution to a problem. Call the press—wait. No, don't. They're right over there." She pointed at a van with the label of the news channel.  
  
They watched the crowd in gloomy observance.  
  
"There might be a slight chance in getting school canceled today," Chloris commented. "But then, it'll start all over again tomorrow."  
  
Somebody suddenly called out, "Hey, Sora—whoa!!" Sora looked around and saw Taichi Kamiya and a pretty brown-haired girl who looked younger than all of them.  
  
Sora cracked a smile. "Quite a crowd, isn't it?"  
  
Tai nodded. The girl next to him looked irritated. "Tai, how do we get in?"  
  
"Kari, I don't know!" he answered just as exasperatedly. "You can't expect me to know everything!"  
  
"Big brothers are supposed to be able to solve their little sisters' problems, aren't they? You said so last night!" the girl protested. "Shows how little your brain is under all that hair. How do you get it to stand up like that?"  
  
"Excuse me," Shina interrupted. "As interesting as this argument is, would you mind having it some other time? We're trying to get in the school."  
  
"Sorry, this is my annoying little sister, Kari." He shot her an aggravated glance. "Doesn't she look silly with that stupid camera around her neck?"  
  
"Shut up, Tai." She glared darkly at the crowd. "Isn't this just my luck? Middle School is right behind High School…" she muttered to herself.  
  
"So…" Aki continued to look at the crowd. "How do we get through?"  
  
Sora thought hard. Then a smile came to her lips. "I have a marvelous idea, my friends," she announced. "You all just wait here. Once you hear my signal, make a break for it." She slipped away and left them, diving deep into the multitude.  
  
"What's the signal?" Aki asked Tai. Tai shrugged, saying, "I'm sure we'll find out soon."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Matt and Mimi stepped off Malcolm Ishida's car a block or so away from the school compound, largely at Mimi's insistence, to walk to school like normal students.  
  
So there they walked, Mimi hiding her obviously pink hair under a large hat. Matt sort of missed the days when her hair was brown. It looked more natural back then.  
  
They knew the directions to Odaiba School so they didn't have to ask any people and alert them that they were famous stars and lost. So they sauntered along, taking in the sights of Odaiba and enjoying the surprisingly fresh air.  
  
"Do you think that we'll be liked in school?" Mimi asked her cousin as she skipped along. "Not as idols or anything, but as the people who we are."  
  
Matt shrugged. He decided against telling her that he didn't really care. After all, it was him who was supposed to do the forgiving that weekend, and she goes and buys him flowers as an, "I'm sorry, Matt," gift. He was touched and rather embarrassed, so he easily forgave her and gave her some chocolates his father had bought.  
  
They rounded the corner and ran smack into a group of people who were standing there staring at something ahead of them.  
  
"Sorry, sorry," Matt said, brushing himself off as he helped a girl with glasses off the ground. Mimi also managed to slam into someone but was not large enough to knock her over.  
  
He saw that one of the group was Taichi Kamiya and was relieved. If he had slammed into somebody else—  
  
"Hey! It's Matt!" Tai exclaimed. "Hey, man! What a great first day of school you have."  
  
"It's our first day," Mimi put in, putting her hat back on. Tai looked at Mimi, a little put off by her pink hair.  
  
"What are you guys staring at?" Matt asked Tai. "Oh, and by the way," he looked at the girls who Tai was with. One girl had glasses and short shiny black hair and another had dark hair and olive skin. A smaller girl had hair the same color as Tai's and another girl had angular eyes and shoulder- length hair. They all wore the standard uniform with the exception of the small girl, who had a camera around her neck. "I'm Matt Ishida."  
  
"Mimi!" the shoulder-length girl cried out. But she didn't do it very loud for some reason. "It's great to see you again!"  
  
"Aki, why are you whispering?" Mimi asked her. "And where's Sora?"  
  
Hold it. Mimi knew someone? Well, Matt supposed, it was only fair, since he already knew Tai.  
  
The girl Mimi called Aki pointed somewhere and we looked and were surprised. An enormous multitude of people were amassed at the gates and calling our Matt and Mimi's names. The two's mouths were hung open.  
  
Matt was the first to get his senses back and said, "Well, it appears that we have a welcoming committee. How…charming. I'm flattered. Sort of. Not really. Well…"  
  
"How frightening fits more, Matt," Mimi muttered.  
  
"You're Yamato Ishida?" Aki whispered in awe.  
  
A little irritation spread on Matt's face. It tickled his ribs and provoked him to say, "Yeah. And?"  
  
"N-nothing." Aki smiled at him, glad that he was irritated. It meant that he had a brain and that he was not so easily swayed by sweet words. Whatever. "You rock. I'm Aki, this is Chloris Erato (she's a Grecian exchange student), this is Shina Wang, the brain, and this is Kari, Tai's sister."  
  
Mimi and Matt nodded.  
  
"Now where is Sora, Aki?" Mimi asked Aki. "I don't see her anywhere! She's not in the crowd, is she?"  
  
Aki bobbed her head. "She's in there somewhere."  
  
"But I thought Sora was too cool for that kind of thing!" Mimi exclaimed. "She doesn't worship the ground I walk on! She's normal! Like yesterday." To explain to Matt, she said, "You see, I was out yesterday with Aki and Sora."  
  
Matt nodded. "Ah."  
  
"No, no," Shina Wang put in. "Sora is in there because she has a plan to get us entrance into school. We're waiting for her signal so we can make it in."  
  
Matt shrugged. "Well, whoever this Sora is, she'd better put her plan into action soon. We're going to be late for the bell."  
  
"Don't hurry her," Kari grumbled. She seemed to be in a lousy mood today. "She'll do what needs doing, all right?"  
  
"Don't worry. It won't matter," Aki snorted. "I'm betting that the teachers are all in there, too. They love Mimi's latest movie."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora skulked through the crowd, taking great pains to not be noticed. She searched around for a perfect place to execute her plan. It was nearly suffocating in that vacuum, bodies pressing against each other in an effort to win more space. She took a deep gasp of breath and dove back in.  
  
She ran through until she was past the crowd and free into the next street. There, she thought, glancing at a large oak tree with branches perfect for climbing. It was perfect. Not too far away from the school.  
  
She expertly scampered up the branches and perched high on a sturdy and thick. It's now or never, Sora thought and took a deep breath.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" someone suddenly yelled. The voice was loud and reached over the din of the mob. Aki was puzzled. It sounded like Sora! It didn't sound like she was in the crowd. More like she was away from it. Far away. "YAMATO ISHIDA AND MIMI TACHIKAWA ARE COMING IN FROM THE WEST SIDE!!!!!"  
  
"Did you hear that?" someone else in the crowd asked excitedly. "Let's go!"  
  
All of a sudden, the entire mob moved as one and raced down the streets, swarming the sidewalks and preventing cars from passing down the street.  
  
"This Sora, whoever she is," Matt remarked, "must be a smart person."  
  
Aki gave him a look and said, "Oh, yes she is. But a smart invisible person. Where is she?" she asked Chloris, who shrugged.  
  
The mass was gone by now. "Well, it's time for us to make a break for it," Tai said, and they surged down the sidewalk and through the gates. When they reached the front steps of the school, Matt and Mimi went in ahead to have a word with the principal. A few minutes later, Sora came running up to them, panting.  
  
"That was smooth, Sor!" Tai grinned and pounded her back. She grinned at him weakly.  
  
"An intelligent plan, Sora," Shina congratulated her. "You managed to cause everyone to play the townspeople and you are the shepherd. You do listen to our Philosophy class. I pass on good wishes to you."  
  
"Well," Aki put in, "As much as I like patting Sora on the back, we'd better get in school before the people get back here. They might be angry that they've been duped."  
  
Shina agreed. Chloris said, "So come on. It's going to be ten minutes before the bell rings and I'd rather be early than fashionably late."  
  
"'Bye, Kari," Tai said to his sister, who was making her way towards the middle school building. "See you later. Try not to kill TK too bad. I'm sure that he didn't mean to put you off."  
  
Kari gave him a sardonic smile and sauntered off.  
  
"They grow up so fast," Tai commented, grinning. "Now, my ladies," he said with a florid bow. "Would you be so kind as to allow me to escort you all to your classes?"  
  
"Y'know," Shina observed. "For a jock, you're not so bad. Chivalry is still active within you, I see. An admirable trait. Remember that. Girls go gaga for things like that."  
  
"I'll keep it in mind," Tai replied and they all went into the school.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kari walked into her building, a grimace on her pixie-like face. The halls were nearly deserted, although the bell didn't ring yet. She decided not to try to find Yolei, as she knew she would probably be with the mob that Sora had chased off with her brilliant scheme.  
  
She gloweringly stalked through the empty corridors and reached her locker. She had managed to finish her algebra assignment and her project the night before. As tired as she was, she managed to save enough strength to beat TK into a bloody pulp. She banged her books around and angrily slammed the locker with a resounding echo.  
  
A voice rang out. "Hey, Kari! How did you get past that horde?" The owner of that voice, Kari could tell, was moving towards her and stood behind her. Kari flexed her fingers and retracted them, pretending to feel a certain someone's fingers on a certain someone's throat. She turned around.  
  
"TK. You have some explaining to do." She glared up at him. He was a few inches taller than she was.  
  
The tall basketball-playing blonde looked down at her. "What do you mean?" he seemed quizzical.  
  
Kari folded her arms across her chest angrily. Her face was tight. "Well, I seem to recall that the both of us were supposed to work on this certain project due tomorrow. We both volunteered, if I remember correctly." She narrowed her eyes up at him in his face. "And I seem to recollect that we agreed to work on it during the weekend. Do I remember correctly? Or is my memory serving me wrong?" She looked at him straight in the eye. "Answer me, TK."  
  
TK, she noticed, was fidgeting, but he looked honestly sorry. "I apologize, Kari. So many things came up over the weekend that I suddenly found out that my schedule was full. I mean, my brother came back to Odaiba, along with my father."  
  
"Oh, there's another thing I want to settle with you," Kari interrupted. "If you were so busy, why did you call Yolei to tell her that Matt was back and not me?" Kari tried to conceal the hurt in her voice but TK still noticed it.  
  
His expression became perplexed. "What do you mean, Kari? I never called Yolei this weekend. In fact, I stayed away for the weekend. I was hanging out with my brother."  
  
"So how is it that Yolei knows that your brother came to Odaiba if you never informed her?" she snapped. "Is she psychic or did she just read it in the newspaper?"  
  
TK looked pensive. "Yes, I think that she did read it on the newspaper."  
  
A tic grew in Kari's forehead. "Don't make fun of me TA. I'm already frustrated," she warned.  
  
TK grinned. "It's TK, no TA. You should know that. Only Davis calls me that."  
  
"TK…"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, all right, enough with the jokes. Kari, didn't you know who my brother is?" TK asked her curiously. "I mean, you hung out with us a lot before, but Tai never met him."  
  
"I met him only once, before he left Odaiba. What do you think? Tai couldn't have met him the day before he left Japan! Why did he leave, anyway? Off to the army, perhaps?" Kari rolled her eyes, hands on her hips.  
  
TK looked shocked. "So you don't know who my brother is…"  
  
Kari nodded impatiently, tapping her foot. "Yes. Why? Is he some big shot movie actor who I should know about?"  
  
TK suddenly burst out laughing. "You don't know who my brother is? You don't know who Yamato Ishida is?"  
  
"Yama…" It suddenly dawned on her about everything happening in the past few days. The reason why TK hadn't been that in touch with her for the past few days, the reason why Yolei had known that Matt was in town before she did, and the sudden thought that came to mind when she realized that she had met Yamato Ishida in person and actually talked to him without realizing who he was…  
  
Oy.  
  
Kari abruptly slapped her forehead. "Oh…I get it now…argh…"  
  
TK seemed concerned. "What's wrong, Kari? Did I say something?"  
  
Kari smiled at him sheepishly. "No it's nothing that you said. It's just that—it's just that you and your brother look alike," Kari said quickly. She apprehended that she had treated TK's brother very rudely when they met a while back. She decided to tell him about that later.  
  
TK looked happy at that comment. (A/N: Of course. What guy wouldn't be happy to be compared optimistically to the Great Yamato Ishida?) "Not really, Kari. Our eyes are quite different."  
  
Kari rolled her eyes. "Whatever, TK. Don't get too flattered."  
  
Someone unexpectedly came bouncing around the corner, lavender tresses flying behind her in a wild pattern. (A/N: 10 points!) "KARI!!! TK!!!" her voice echoed down the empty corridor.  
  
TK and Kari turned around and smiled. "Hey, Yolei," TK greeted.  
  
"GUYS! I can't believe it! The lead singer of the Teenage Wolves is coming to our school! Our school!" Yolei Inoue practically burst with excitement. "I can't wait to see him! TK, you are so lucky to have a brother like him!!"  
  
Kari let out a little laugh. "I've met him, Inoue. He's a nice guy, but I apparently grouched him." Her eyes twinkled with mirth at how she knew Yolei would react to this. TK, too. Her friends were so predictable.  
  
Yolei's reply was earsplitting. "WWWHHHAAAAATTTTT???? You met him??? Spoke to him??? GROUCHED HIM???" Kari burst into laughter. "Yep."  
  
TK looked confused. "You never grouched him when we were little, Kari. We just played a game of Monopoly and then he left. We were too young to snub people back then."  
  
"WWWHHHAAAAATTTTT???? You knew each other when you were kids??? And you've never told me? What kind of friends are you two?!"  
  
Kari shook her head, grinning from ear to ear. "No, no, I met him just a while ago. We were kind of stuck because of that humongous crowd back there cheering for him and for that Mimi Tachikawa."  
  
Yolei's voice was deafening, but TK and Kari still managed to ignore her.  
  
"So WHY IS IT THAT I'M THE ONE WHO'S YELLING MY HEAD OFF AND NONE OF YOU ARE LISTENING???" Yolei hollered, her voice making Kari's and TK's hair fly back at the force of it.  
  
TK and Kari continued on with their conversation, still trying not to notice her. "So, how did you get out?" TK yelled, wincing a little from the bellowing purple-haired girl nearby.  
  
"Could you yell that again?" Kari had her hands over her ears. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"  
  
"WHAT???" TK screamed back.  
  
Kari sighed. This would be a long day  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Well that's done and over with. Is it just me or am I prolonging the big "meeting"? Well, I myself don't know what's happening next. Let us see…well, anyway, review!! GRADUATION, HERE I COME!! 


	6. Starts With A Lot Of Noise Ends With Que...

I have SURVIVED!!! So far, of course. Who knows what kind of grades I'll get? Well, here is our part 6 of "Fame Isn't Everything—In Your Case, It's Nothing!" Well. Let's see how the students of Odaiba will cope to the sudden coming of the stars…  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora gaped at the classroom as she opened the door. It was completely empty. The girls were all outside, marching around looking for this Yamato Ishida and the guys were all probably doing the same for Mimi. Where Mimi was, Sora had no idea. Aki, Tai and the others had told her that they had met the two of them while she was off trailing the mob behind.  
  
Sora glanced at Chloris and Shina, who shared today's homeroom with her. Chloris spoke up. "Shall we take our seats?" she gestured to all the empty chairs.  
  
Sora grinned. "Take'em where?"  
  
Chloris shrugged. "By the window would probably be nice."  
  
"No, no, no." Shina shook her head. "We'd better pile them up so they can be compact enough to fit in our backpacks. My mother once scolded me for brining home the bus."  
  
Then the three of them cracked up. It was a joke they shared with Aki. Nothing else. Out of the blue, a sudden noise came up behind them. The three girls turned around to look.  
  
"Am I late??" someone suddenly skidded into the room, nearly crashing into the doors. "Please, teacher, I was caught up by a…" the person's voice trailed off. "Whoops. Nearly wasted a good excuse."  
  
The boy was a little taller than Shina, who was the shortest among the three girls, and he had a head of cropped red hair. He wore the usual male's uniform of Odaiba High School. In one hand, he clutched a briefcase looking bag and in the other, he hugged possessively to his chest a yellow laptop. (A/N: You know what? There are 10 points up for grabs here!)  
  
The boy noticed the three girls looking at him and blushed. (A/N: After all, didn't I say that guys were after Chloris, and Sora is a very pretty girl? Shina, too, is pretty, if you didn't know that. It's the cute girl with the large glasses and innocent clear eyes…but she can be very nasty if she wants to, so don't think that she's all sweet and innocent and I-don't- break-rules sort of girl. OK. Enough.)  
  
"Eh…sorry." He seemed to recover his bearings and put his hand out in a greeting shake. "My name is Koushiro Izumi. I'm sorry to have startled you, but it appears that I thought that I was late. I am very sorry."  
  
Sora laughed. "It's all right, Koushiro Izumi."  
  
Koushiro looked at Shina suddenly. "Hey, aren't you the girl who trounced me in that regional competition of mathematics, physics, biology and computers knowledge?"  
  
Shina reddened and nodded meekly. "Yes. If you mean to blame me for winning, I'm sorry, but—"  
  
Koushiro suddenly lightened up. "Don't worry. Prodigious! There is actually someone of my IQ in this wretched High School. I believe that I will enjoy talking to you in the future. You three can call me Izzy."  
  
Ding! Sora suddenly remembered the conversation she had with Tai during that messy detention. "You know Tai, right?" she suddenly asked. "I mean, you two are friends, right?"  
  
Izzy nodded. "Of course. Tai. Yes, he and I go a long way back. I often beat him at computer games, especially those Digimon games. I am so fond of that series."  
  
Shina's eyes lit up. Shina said enthusiastically, "Sora and I LOVE that show, too! Hey, Izzy, do you remember, or did you watch that lovely episode when the Digidestined…"  
  
As Izzy and Shina started to recap every single Digimon episode created, Sora and Chloris took their seats next to each other and started to talk, too. The minutes went by. Soon, Shina and Izzy got tired of standing up and took their seats directly behind Sora and Chloris'. They continued their conversation animatedly, picking up from where they had left off (When Myotismon had attacked Japan with his army of evil Digimon.). And the clock ticked on. Several moments after Sora and Chloris took a contemplative pause, the bell rang.  
  
In next to no time, the students of Odaiba High School filed into their classrooms, chattering disappointedly about the fact that they hadn't seen any of the expected celebrities. They were all outside, waiting for their idols. It also appeared that the teachers, too, had been part of the crowd that formed in anticipation of these living legends.  
  
Their homeroom administrator, Mrs. Teniko, had entered the classroom and they did all the usual homeroom things, like taking a role call of attendance, reciting the Japanese national anthem, and some little announcements. Soon, the adviser started to explain to them something about a fundraiser for more absorbent sponges for the old folks' communities.  
  
Sora didn't really want to think about sponges, so she spent her time doodling on her notebook, sketching pictures of landscapes and scenery. She was about to perfect a drawing of a starry night and a Christmas Village when suddenly, her drawing was picked up by Mrs. Teniko.  
  
"Well, well, well, class," she suddenly shouted, waking up half of the students in the room. "It appears that we have a student who finds no interest in sponges!"  
  
Several of the people at the back snorted at this, but stopped when the teacher gave them furious looks. "Is there anything that you students find amusing in there? If so, please share it with us."  
  
The class was silent.  
  
"Very well," Mrs. Teniko whispered in a deadly manner. "Now, Miss Takenouchi. We will have to discuss—"  
  
She was abruptly cut off when the doors at the back of the room slammed open and a girl sprinted in. (A/N: Ten obvious points.)  
  
"I'm so sorry, Ms. Teacher," the pink-haired girl said repeatedly bowing respectfully. Her voice told Sora who she was. "I had to step into the principal's office to have a few words with her."  
  
The class was speechless.  
  
"Oh, and my name is Mimi. Mimi Tachikawa." (A/N: Bond. James Bond. Or is it James. James Bond.)  
  
And the class was wordless.  
  
(A/N: It's a very articulate class, I assure you. You can see so by how much they talk here…)  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Mimi watched the class' reactions. She saw Sora sitting down with her friend Chloris to her side and Shina behind her. Sora smiled briefly at her, but her eyes were worried. Mimi took a look at the astounded teacher and saw that she was holding a piece of notebook paper that looked like it was torn from Sora's open notebook. (A/N: She's very perceptive, isn't she?)  
  
So she decided to try and save her friend. Even though they all probably knew who she was, she announced out loud, "Oh, and my name's Mimi Tachikawa."  
  
Noise exploded all around her and she saw that the once-silent class had all erupted from their seats and rushed to her, including the teacher herself. Mimi was a little frightened because they were all trying to talk to her at the same time that everything mangled up into one garbled sentence. Bemused, she dimly perceived the teacher shoving her way to herself.  
  
"Class!" the stern-looking teacher called out. "Class!! I want order here!" No response. "CLASS!! GIVE ME ORDER THIS INSTANT OR I WILL PERSONALLY ASK ALL THE TEACHERS TO FAIL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU THIS SCHOOL YEAR!!!!"  
  
That got no response either. Mimi was starting to feel faint from all the crowding.  
  
"CLASS!!!! I HAVE A SPINY TWELVE-FOOT CARROT DANCING UP MY NOSE!!!!!!" (A/N: Hehe. Once a banana, always a carrot.)  
  
The class fell silent and turned to look at the frustrated teacher, who smiled and said, "Now will all of you please return to your seats? We will first hear Ms. Tachikawa's explanation why she is so late, and then you can interview her."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chloris watched amusedly from her seat near the side of the classroom that was unharmed by the mad dash to the famous superstar teenager. Sora and she, along with Shina and their new friend, Izzy, had remained in their seats as everyone stampeded to the back of the room. Now, as Mrs. Teniko got everything under control, Chloris picked up the paper that Sora had been doodling on and examined it.  
  
"Hey, Sora. This is a pretty good sketch you have here," she articulated, catching her friend's attention and driving it away from the mad fans. "It looks so real! It's a good thing Ten didn't take it from you."  
  
They called Mrs. Teniko Ten because, other than that was the prefix of her last name, there were rumors that she had been married to ten husbands.  
  
Sora smiled brilliantly. "You really think so? It took me a long time to get the shading of snow correct. It was always too smudged."  
  
Chloris grinned. "Snow is white, Sora. You don't really need to shade it to make it white when you're drawing on white paper."  
  
Sora shrugged. "There are shadows."  
  
As Ten got everyone back into their seats, Sora and Chloris both waved hi to Mimi, who wasn't looking too well. Chloris assumed that it might have been because she had been losing air when everyone mobbed around her and choked off the idea of distance respect, but that couldn't have been it. (Notice the sarcasm in this thought.)  
  
Ten announced sharply to the class, "Will Miss Tachikawa please step up to the front of the class? We need to have an explanation on why you have chosen to cause this break of decorum."  
  
Mimi looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Ms—?" she looked at the teacher inquiringly.  
  
"Mrs. Teniko."  
  
Mimi continued. "I'm sorry for disrupting your class with my lateness, Mrs. Teniko, but I had to stop by the principal's office to have a word with her. I was detained for a while in doing so, but I have a slip from the principal that excuses me." She bowed again.  
  
Ten looked musing. "Well, if the principal allows your lateness for today, which will be fine. But remember that this will not happen again."  
  
Mimi nodded.  
  
"Now, class," Ten announced. "We will now allow Miss Tachikawa to answer your questions for her. Whoever wants to ask something, however, must raise his or her hand, and I will call on you. We must not stampede the young actress or the school will face some problems…now please raise your hand."  
  
Suddenly, nearly all the hands in the room shot up.  
  
Chloris pitied Mimi. At the rate of things going on, it would be very long before she got to sit down.  
  
****  
  
HAHA!!! They haven't met yet! Well, don't worry. In the next chapter, or the chapter after that, the two Digidestined who are not Digidestined at the moment will finally meet and sparks will fly!! By the way. Review! I'm not posting the next chapter 'till I see those numbers rise! (I said it again!) Go ahead! Criticize me! I'm ready for it! 


	7. Starts With Questions Ends With Empty Ca...

Thank you to all you lovely people who are so nice as to review my story! All those marvelous comments (even the repeated single-word reviews) made me feel so dizzy that I stabbed meself with a plum. It's not possible, so I actually didn't, but they did make me feel better about the world. Thank you and READ.  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Matt was unsure whether or not to open the door and face the class or to just forget about going to school and return home. But he decided that whatever Mimi could do, he could do better. (A/N: That's just false bravado, folks! In truth, he's WETTING HIMSELF!!! Kidding. Could Matt actually do that?) Matt sighed and silently pushed open the door a crack. Peering through, he saw that the class was taking the role call. He was glad that he wasn't that late, since the principal's office was nearer to his homeroom than Mimi's. Hers was practically at the other side of the school. Pity.  
  
He took a deep breath and pushed the door wide open. "Excuse me, Ma'm. Am I late?" (A/N: Does he like stating the obvious?)  
  
The teacher (a young looking thing) looked at him and took a double take. "Are you Yamato Ishida???" she asked excitedly. Her eyes kind of creeped Matt out; they had a hungry look to them and she was eyeing him like a side of beef. (A/N: Hehe. I like chicken better, though.)  
  
Matt felt a little irritated at this. "And what if I am?" he asked defiantly.  
  
The teacher looked at him, grinning.  
  
Oh, crap. (A/N: Please forgive his language. He's young.)  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Aki observed, entertained, as the big Rock Star himself standing there started to make the girls around her drool. Her good friend, Kioko, was staring her eyeballs out at him. Aki probably would've been one of them herself, if she had not met him earlier that morning and Mimi the day before yesterday. They were just normal people, of course.  
  
Incredibly good-looking normal people, Aki corrected herself as she found herself grinning sadistically. Matt was going to have to fight off humongous crowds of fan girls later. Hehe…can't wait to see how Mr. Big Shot handles this.  
  
Aki didn't actually hold anything against Yamato Ishida; she worshipped his music and admired his good looks, but she wanted to see how Mr. Cool managed this sudden rush of attention.  
  
The answer?  
  
Like a pro.  
  
Matt flashed an extremely fine grin at the class and you could practically hear the whirring of the girls' brains stop and thumping of their hearts escalate to a million beats per second. Aki felt like laughing at the sudden brainlessness of her colleagues, but she herself thought that he was enormously WOW material. She looked around and saw the guys look awed of that single person who could make their classmates in that condition with a single action.  
  
Some of them appeared to be jealous that this guy was stealing their girlfriends' attentions away from them; others who were completely obnoxious about their looks were finally admitting defeat.  
  
Aki smiled at Matt, the only girl acknowledging him with her mind intact and called out, "You can stop that now, Matt! Any more smiling and they'll be reduced to even worse vegetables."  
  
Matt laughed, something that he shouldn't have done, because in doing so, he vanquished the very last surviving brain cell left in the girls here, even causing the most gothic-I-hate-guys girl to increase their pulse rates to intensify by googolplex million beats a minute. All their faces were redder than bloody tomatoes.  
  
Every guy acknowledged his downfall and even Aki had to blush furiously because man, that was a sexy laugh. (A/N: OK, is there any guy at all who could do this? It sounds impossible. Matt's WOW but I don't know if he could do that. Maybe force girls to squeal in elation but I don't think that—OK, you know what? I'll forget about this topic. It's a fic, I'm an author, whatever I say, goes. Or type, come to think of it.)  
  
Aki felt a tic start in her forehead. She could take no more of this. She hated blushing. She pushed her chair back and stood up angrily. Simultaneously, Taichi Kamiya at the other end of the room also rose from his seat.  
  
She grinned at him then faced Matt. She saw that their teacher, Ms. Matsikoka, was reduced to a gibbering vegetable, and she laughed. "Matt, please, stop. You're incapacitating the class. Just sit down and we can continue taking the role call." Aki made her way to the teacher's table while Tai spoke to Matt.  
  
"Matt, you can take this seat," he told him, gesturing to an empty seat in front of him.  
  
Matt beamed at Tai and walked over to him, sighs trailing behind him, and sat down in that seat. Aki sighed, depressed that she couldn't see him battle off the swarms of fanatical girls, but she lightened up at the prospect of lunchtime—girls all around and no restraint like teachers…  
  
Hehehe…  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora was relieved when the last period before lunch was over, for herself and for Mimi. Mimi had to stand up for nearly the entire period, wearily answering questions and being interrogated about her personal life for the third or so time since homeroom.  
  
She tried to get to Mimi and help her out as everyone stood up to leave the classroom, but instead of exiting the classroom, everyone rushed to the seat where Mimi was assigned and where she was sitting down, resting her legs, thus not allowing Sora the chance to help her friend out. Sora maybe could have dealt with the guys, but not the girls, and there was no way she could see of them disappearing. And even more, there were more people coming in to see the great Mimi Tachikawa.  
  
She sighed and caught Mimi's eye, mouthing a sorry to her. Mimi nodded, understanding, and gave her a weak smile, which caused the guys crowding around her to get more aggressive at pushing the other guys away.  
  
"Come on, Chloris, Shina." Sora stood at the doorframe of the classroom. "There's nothing we can do for Mimi at this moment."  
  
"Oh?" Shina grinned. "Please, don't say I'm a rip-off when I do this, it's just that I see great potential in the idea."  
  
"What?"  
  
Shina laughed. "You'll see." She took three steps out of the classroom, and then bellowed in a way Sora never knew Shina could bellow. It was always Aki and Sora who did the bellowing. "OH, GOD!! IT'S YAMATO ISHIDA!!!! HE'S HEADING DOWN THE WEST SIDE!!!!!! AAAHH!!!"  
  
Ironically, the girls crowding Mimi all looked up at the same time, eyes as wide as saucers. They then squealed and charged out of the classroom in a flash, nearly knocking Shina off her feet.  
  
So much for learning from mistakes.  
  
So the coast was clear of girls for Sora, Chloris, Shina and Izzy to get to Mimi, but unfortunately, there were still the guys to deal with.  
  
Chloris smiled at Shina. "That was great, Sheen. I'm sorry, but you're not just rip-off. You're a genius rip-off." Shina shrugged, looking pleased at this. "But what about those guys?"  
  
Sora flipped her hair over her shoulder, saying, "You leave that to me. I can deal with this," and sauntered off to the table.  
  
When she reached Mimi's table, she cleared her throat. "Excuse me, fellows, I'd like for you all to think that there's a horde of angry girlfriends hovering near the door. If I'm not mistaken, they seem to have very sharp plastic knives in their hands. Perfect for slaying unfaithful boyfriends, once you think about it. They'd probably go for your abdomens. When it slashes open, your guts just dribble out in the most sensational way."  
  
Thus Sora preceded to tell them about the various places in the body that would most likely be attacked and give elaborate descriptions of what would happen. Very elaborate descriptions. When she was getting down to the unmentionables, the boys just split and stampeded out of the door, most probably to the nearest bathrooms.  
  
Sora flippantly wondered why their faces were green. She turned to Mimi and grinned. "I wonder why they left so early. I was just warming up. And I was getting to the good part. Curses."  
  
Mimi burst out laughing in her high-pitched voice. "That was marvelous, Sora! This school must be really good to let you know all those things about the human body. How did you do all that? I couldn't drive them away with a wild lion! Thanks!"  
  
Sora shrugged. "Talent, I suppose."  
  
Chloris and the others ran up to her. Izzy spoke up, looking rather pale. "Sora, remind me not to be near you when you're holding a plastic knife. I can't imagine—" he paused, looking sick.  
  
Sora smiled at him. "Poor boy."  
  
Izzy rolled his eyes while Chloris said, "That was nearly as brilliant as your first scheme! Try not to go too much in detail next time, though. I myself nearly threw up at the point with the eyeballs."  
  
"Advice taken."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Lunchtime. The period Matt dreaded the most. Although most girls turned into vegetables at his smile, they turned into desperate ones at his voice. It was all right during the classes, but Matt didn't face lunchtime with utmost enthusiasm. During periods in between classes, girls kept hurling themselves at him and would've torn him to pieces fighting over him by now if Tai and Aki hadn't appointed themselves his guardians. Although whether Aki was fully committed to helping him out was quite unsure. She sometimes hung back and watched as Matt tried to fend off his fan girls when Tai wasn't around. She seemed to enjoy it.  
  
Matt wondered at this, and decided to ask her about it later.  
  
So far, no girl had been throwing herself at him. Did it have anything to do with the fact that there were no girls to be sighted at all? (A/N: Does it help to say that Matt's headed for the cafeteria, which is in the east end? Nah, didn't think so.) Maybe they were all in the cafeteria.  
  
"Here's the cafeteria!" Aki announced, stirring Matt from his reverie. They stopped at the double doors as Tai pushed them open.  
  
"And here's YAMATO ISHIDA!!" Aki shouted into the cafeteria, causing Matt to attempt to shut her up, but the damage was done. Sighing heavily, he turned to the double doors, ready to face the onslaught of yammering girls—  
  
Only to find that there were nearly no girls at all.  
  
Life is strange.  
  
****  
  
Not as long as I expected, but longer than I imagined. Or vice versa. Forget it. I'm sorry but I don't know how long this story will be, but I do know that the number of chapters will not exceed a hundred. Hehe. What I know is not very useful.  
  
Well, I'm sure that you all will be put out with me for saying this so many times over, but hey, life's no picnic. It's a meal in a restaurant where the floor is wet, the waiters are all untrained, and bugs run everywhere. But the food is good, so we keep coming back while looking at the brighter side of things.  
  
…  
  
Hey, that was rather insightful. Hm. Not hearing anything like that from me any time soon. Oh well, see ya and (time to be put off) REVIEW! 


	8. Starts With Empty Cafeteria Rooms Ends W...

IIIIIIII'MM BACK!! * leaves room * IIIIIII'MM GONE!! * returns * IIIIIIIIII'MM BACK…AGAIIN!!! OK, bout of hyperactivity has passed. Never eat too many puto bumbong with * starts to drool * panutsa (or however you spell it. Panucha?). It'll get you hyper.  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Shina, Sora and Chloris were eating at their usual table, with the extra additions of Izzy and Mimi. Shina wanted to discuss more things with him, finding that, for a nerd, he was a very likeable guy. But then again. Most considered Shina a nerd, so nerds go with nerds. They struck up a conversation about the latest Digimon episode as Sora stood up to get a drink from the vending machine, taking advantage of the fruit of their deception: no stuck-up prigs claiming that the machine and its contents were theirs and theirs only. After all, the guys who were crowding Mimi were all in bathrooms at that very moment and there were practically no other girls there other than a few who had no interest in music. (A/N: The horror! Bach! Beethoven! Mozart! Vivaldi! We luv ya!)  
  
Izzy was telling Shina about his favorite episodes. "And what about that episode when Endinomon had—" (A/N: I made it up!)  
  
"And here's YAMATO ISHIDA!!" someone suddenly yelled. Then—"Huh?"  
  
Shina, Chloris and Izzy (And just about everyone else who heard) looked up at this proclamation and stared. Aki and Taichi Kamiya, a nice guy they had met a while back when they could not enter the school, were at the open double doors with a blonde guy.  
  
Chloris muttered, "It's time for us to save their butts again." She openly shouted, "AKI! Over here!" standing up and gesticulating.  
  
Aki lost her confused look and made her way over, dragging the two boys behind her. "Hey, Chloris, Shina and—who are you?" she asked Izzy. "And where's Sora?"  
  
Shina smiled. "Sora just went to the vending machines to get a drink. She'll be back soon enough, though."  
  
"Hey." A guy came up behind Tai and said, "Tai. What's happening here? I was waiting for you. Why did all the girls disappear?" He looked older than the rest of the others and he had rather stylish hippie-like blue hair and glasses. (A/N: Ten points are up for grabs!) "I needed to ask Neki about an assignment, but she's not here."  
  
Tai shrugged. "I have no idea, either. I myself am wondering where they went." Then he remembered his manners. "Oh, yeah. Girls, this is Joe Kido. He's a couple of levels above us. He's one of my friends."  
  
Mimi grinned and answered, "Nice to meet you Joe."  
  
Chloris added, "And for an answer for inquiring minds, we are the ones who drove the girls away from the cafeteria. They're all at the west side by now. Right Sheen?" she smiled at her Japanese friend.  
  
Shina's eyes turned to crescents as she laughed. "Yes, it's completely our fault."  
  
"Oh?" Matt asked, intrigued. "How could you do that? I couldn't drive them away with a wild lion. Thanks!"  
  
Shina, Izzy, Mimi and Chloris exchanged mirthful glances. "Hey, are you and Mimi related in a way?" Izzy asked cheerfully. "You two said the exact same thing! Isn't that prodigious?" Mimi laughed. "He's right."  
  
Matt shrugged. "We are related distantly, but to avoid getting a migraine, I call her my cousin. So how did you drive the girls away? I'm curious."  
  
Chloris explained, "Well, they were crowding Mimi after the last period before lunch (Literature) and we were wondering about how to get Mimi out of there. We were about to give up when Shina here ripped off Sora's idea of fooling them, telling them that Yamato Ishida was at the west end of the school. They fell for it and, on the way there, probably spread the rumor. So now, every girl is on that side of school chasing wild geese."  
  
Matt, Aki, Tai, and Joe burst out laughing. Aki exclaimed, "Marvelous, Sheen! I couldn't have duped those airheads better myself!"  
  
Shina waved that aside. "But wait, you haven't heard the good part yet! Haven't you noticed why there are less boys around here than usual? There's more!"  
  
"There's more?" Tai grinned. "Ooh, do tell!"  
  
"Well," Chloris continued, picking up from where she left off, "Shina got the girls out, all right, but there were still the boys to take care of. And more and more of them were drifting in from different classes, so it was getting kind of crowded where Mimi was. We had no idea on how to get rid of them, when Sora came up with a plan and scared them off."  
  
Joe asked, "Scared them off? What do you mean? How'd she scare'em?"  
  
Chloris held up a finger, "Wait. So Sora ambles over to them in a really cute way, and that gets their attention. She starts to talk about if there were angry girlfriends near the door and if they had knives. Then she tells them in great detail about the best places to cut people up and their effects. I'm not retelling you what she said because they kind of make people squeamish. Basically, she got all of them to run screaming to the bathroom to toss their cookies."  
  
Tai grinned. "I never knew Sora had it in her. Good thing she did today."  
  
Aki sniffed indignantly. "Sora always had it in her, ever since we were small. I'm so proud of her. When is she coming back?"  
  
Shina shrugged.  
  
Matt spoke up. "This Sora must be some girl."  
  
Izzy nodded. "She is. She's really nice and really smart. I hear that she's running for the excellence award this year."  
  
Aki's eyes were tennis balls. "WHAAT??? You mean to say that Sora's a lot smarter than she acts? That she is running for excellence?? And all along I could've used her as a homework helper?"  
  
Izzy pretended to look musing. "Hmm…yeah, I do believe that that was what I was telling you, yeah…"  
  
Mimi narrowed her eyes. "I'm guessing that this 'homework helper' of yours means a person who you could cheat on."  
  
Aki looked sheepish. "Only in Chemistry…" Chloris gave her a look. Aki blanched. "A-and Algebra, and Trigonometry." Shina raised an eyebrow. Aki looked defeated. "All right, all right, Sheen. Basically every subject except P.E."  
  
Chloris coughed again, looking embarrassed. Aki seemed resigned. "OK. Even P.E."  
  
Tai grinned. "Guess you're caught, Aki. Good thing we smart people always remember to do our homework." Aki bristled.  
  
Izzy cleared his throat. "Tai. You forget who you call every night to get answers for your apparently forgotten homework. For every subject, including P.E. and Study Hall. Me."  
  
Aki looked satisfied as Tai turned pink. "Looks like we're even, Kamiya." She turned around and walked into the general direction of the vending machines. "Now if you all will excuse me, I'm going to go look for Sora. She hasn't met Matt yet. I can't wait to see her reaction…" She sauntered away.  
  
Shina smiled inwardly as her raven-haired friend weaved in and out of the small crowd that had started to trickle in. She turned back to Izzy. "So did you watch the episode where Tangemon first appeared?"  
  
Izzy grinned.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Matt looked puzzled. "Why would she want to see the reaction of this Sora person when she would see me? Does she like my music really that much?" Matt saw that as a little depressing. This Sora sounded like a cool girl to be friends with, although she wasn't popular. If she was fanatical about him, she wouldn't be able to make out a coherent sentenced with him around. As much as he loved his fame, he didn't really want a friend to be that star struck. After all, he'd need someone to rant and rave about how cool he was… (A/N: Bighead alert! Bighead alert!)  
  
Chloris grinned. "Actually, she never even heard of your music. Come to think of it, she never even heard about you and Mimi before. Even in Greece, we've heard of your music and had Mimi's movies. She's kind of puzzled why everyone is so excited about you and your cousin."  
  
He was shocked by this completely new concept. It seemed impossible. A girl who doesn't know about him? Or Mimi, the leading lady of nearly half of the soap operas in Japan, for that matter?  
  
So deep was he into his reverie so as to he was unaware that he was being lead to the cafeteria line by Tai and Joe. He was merely stirred from his thoughts when the fat cafeteria lady asked him which meal would he like. He dumbly uttered the first thing she said and moved on. He only truly woke up when Tai had pinched his arm hard. There was a little bruise left there. He found himself sitting torpidly at the table with his cafeteria tray in front of him.  
  
"What happened?" he drawled, trying to restore his image as the cool one. "Did I miss anything?"  
  
Tai looked amused. "Nothing much. What's with you? Are you zoning out on us or something? You were totally out of it. What's wrong?"  
  
Matt immediately shrugged off the reverie he had sunken into. "Nothing. Nothing at all."  
  
Mimi looked smug. "I know why he's like that. It's because he's not used to not being incredibly mooned over by people, much less a girl. That's why he's unnerved about Sora. I, for one, am glad that she didn't fawn over me like some backstabbing airhead."  
  
Tai gaped. "You read him very well, don't you?"  
  
She grinned, flattered. "Of course I do. We grew up together. I should be able to read him, too, because who knows when he needs a distraction during public appearances to go to the bathroom." Matt rolled his eyes.  
  
Mimi chided him. "Don't frown, Matt. It'll give you wrinkles."  
  
Matt glared at her while everyone else laughed. So he ignored them and started to observe the meal he had absent-mindedly bought. When he took a look at it, he decided that that wasn't too smart a thing to do. (After all, it was yellow day.) The meat was yellow, not because it had yellow sauce; it didn't, but because it was just plain yellow. The milk in the carton appeared to be very expired; thus yellow. To give all the readers a vivid description of all the 'delicacies' placed so 'lovingly' upon Matt Ishida's tray would cause them to throw up, destroy computers worldwide.  
  
Anyway.  
  
He started to pick at the salad, which was obviously yellow. He chewed on a piece of it. It seemed all right, but whenever he placed it to his nose, it would reek of some strange 'fragrance' that would be strong enough to curdle milk. Maybe that's why the milk was yellow.  
  
So as he meticulously ate his enigmatic food, his new friends and his cousin started to talk about other things. Every now and then, he would hear something about that Sora girl. Sora helped her with this and that; she always listened to him and his problems so blah, blah… She must be some angel, with the exception of the fact that she didn't know who he was. That just about dulled the shine on her halo.  
  
The poor girl.  
  
(A/N: Someone's feeling a little too high up today, now isn't he?)  
  
As Matt finished his salad, he decided that he needed something to wash it down. "My friends, I need a drink at the moment to dislodge the monster croutons that have been wedged into my throat, so if you will excuse me…?"  
  
"Good luck," Chloris said. "And if you could, please find Aki?"  
  
Matt shrugged as he made his way towards the vending machines. "Will do."  
  
****  
  
OK, this is normally the part where I get off, remembering to remind all of you lovely readers to review my story and stay tuned for the next on, but those lovely brown and sweet and succulent sugar bits have driven my fingers to insanity, thus causing this story to develop off that lovely delicacy. Besides, I want to see what happens next. Will Sora and Matt finally meet? Will words clash? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Wala lang.  
  
OK, back to the story.  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
OK, I'm warning you. This is the last time I'll try it before you'll really get it…  
  
Sora frowned angrily at the innocently colored machine. For the past half- half hour, (A/N: A.K.A. Fifteen minutes.) Sora had been trying in vain to get her soda out of the stupid machine. It appeared to be stuck somewhere in the mechanism. It was a good thing that there were no lines today. Nobody pressuring her to hurry up. Sora pushed the button that was supposed to make the can pop up.  
  
Please, please, please…there was that whirring sound…(A/N: Clickety-clank! Clickety-clank!)  
  
And as you would expect from the type of luck the girl received, nothing came out. Sora sighed, slowly clenching her fist. Raising it, she prepared to launch it off—  
  
Someone suddenly walked up behind her and said, "Maybe you should try to jiggle the handle. It worked for me before. As I always say, anything until violence."  
  
Sora turned around quickly. The guy grinned and held out his hand. "I'm Aidan Feoras. Irish. I'm guessing that you're the famous Sora Takenouchi. Lovely food fight that was. It was one of the best I'd had in many years. The last one must have been when I was seven, back in the home country. Aye, that was a good one, too."  
  
He indeed had a rather Irish tinge to his speaking. Sora recognized him because he was one of the exchange students Odaiba High School had a year or so ago. He was totally WOW, according to Aki, and when Aki drilled Chloris for the 4-1-1 on the guy, Chloris said that he was a rather nice guy. He had wavy brown hair and pale skin. His eyes were jade green and really entrancing. And, of course, he was clothed in the traditional high school uniform.  
  
Sora groaned. "So I'm famous for that?" She buried her head into her hands. "Don't tell me that they're putting it in the yearbook. Don't." She sighed again. "Everything now is just perfect. First, I get credited, not to mention punished, for a food fight I had nearly no responsibility for, then pushed down the steps of the front of the school by this totally arrogant guy, then when I get to school, that crowd of brainless fans swarms the school and blocks any ideas of entry, and now, there's this silly vending machine!" Dramatically, she slapped her forehead. "When are the meteors coming? At least I can be prepared and completely spontaneously combust when they get here!! Symmetry!!"  
  
Aidan laughed. "You won't have long to wait for them once the girls find out that the ruse was a dud. That machine seems to have a pertinacious pleasure in infuriating students, it does. Didn't you know?"  
  
Sora grinned. "It's my first time to use the machine. After all, I'd have to go through the 'popular' tables to get to the vending machines, and they never miss the chance to trip me up." Sora quickly realized that maybe she shouldn't have said that to him. After all, he was one of them, too. Sora felt herself redden. "Sorry. I didn't—"  
  
Aidan brushed it off. "It's all right. Nothing off me if I don't participate, that's what I always say." He smiled at her and she smiled back.  
  
"SORA!!!" Aki suddenly appeared next to the red-haired girl. "Where were you? You're taking forever to get a soda—hey," she paused, looking at Aidan. "Who're you?" She looked genuinely confused.  
  
"I'm—" Aidan started to introduce himself when Aki suddenly declared, "Oh, yeah! You're that Eadoin Fresca guy. Are you really half-Irish, half- Mexican?"  
  
Aki looked so earnest that Sora had to burst out laughing. The startled look on Aidan's face didn't help matters, either. It was the look people got when Aki was around—pure confusion and certainty that someone's wheels weren't running in the same direction.  
  
Sora calmed down and introduced them. "Aki, this is Aidan Feoras. Aidan, meet Akina Midori."  
  
"Oh, you're the one who everyone goes gaga over, right?" Aki grinned at him. OK, now this was an obvious plot. Aki had, after all, gone all WOOO over him and sometimes kept ranting and raving about how great this guy was. Of course, she truly did not know his name.  
  
Aidan rolled his eyes. "They only look at the surface. It's the inside that matters, after all. In any case, truthful words endure forever, but lies for only a moment. It's one of my favorite sayings. Proverbs 12:19. Gotta love that book." (A/N: Amen to that!)  
  
Sora and Aki gaped at him. Then they exchanged a look. Aki's face looked awestruck. Sora was sure that hers looked skeptical at the idea she knew was forming in Aki's brain. Aki exclaimed, "He sounds just like Chloris, Sora! They even love the same book in the Bible! That is so cool!"  
  
Sora smirked. "He even got the part where he thinks that everyone's just out to get him for his looks instead of his personality right. Amazing."  
  
Aki's eyes were star struck. "This is so amazing! You've gotta meet Chloris! I'm sure you two will click together like two pieces of a puzzle!" She let out a loud squeal of delight, rubbing her hands. "This'll be so much fun!" She grabbed Aidan's arm and started to pull him away when he interrupted her.  
  
"I beg your pardon, lass, but I was just coming over here to help Sora out, not to meet some random girl just because we like the same book in the Holy Bible!" he proclaimed. "I know this Chloris girl, she's all right and all, but don't you think that this is a little too present at the now? Aye, we're moving to presently."  
  
Aki shrugged. "That's my middle name. Akina Ima Midori. What else?"  
  
"Seriously?" Aidan looked amused. Aki nodded. (A/N: I think that Ima means present or now.)  
  
"So can you guys just help me in getting this soda out, then?" Sora asked them. "I'm really thirsty and time isn't getting any shorter. Eventually, we're going to have to go back to classes."  
  
Aki shrugged. "OK. Let me take care of this." She turned to the machine and gave it a mighty kick. There was a little rustling inside the machine as the cogs sounded like they were turning. Sora held her breath hopefully and waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
"Umm…" Aidan glanced at Aki, who was standing there, glaring expectantly at the machine. "Is something supposed to be happening at the moment? Because I don't think that it feels like coming out."  
  
Aki turned her furious gaze on him and stuck out her tongue. "It has worked before."  
  
Aidan shrugged.  
  
The three of them stood staring at the stubborn machine. Sora bent down and peered into the slot.  
  
"Excuse me; if you three would stop gaping at the vending machine, I believe that you should let other people have a go at getting a drink?" A voice suggested.  
  
Aki and Aidan turned to look at the newcomer and saw who he was. Sora attempted to but decided that he could wait; after all, she just saw her soda. It seemed to be wedged in tight between two large gears. She groaned inwardly. Why couldn't this stupid machine have separate parts for the soda and the machinery?  
  
"Heey, Matt!" Aki said brightly. "Just trying to get some soda."  
  
"Are you new? I'm Aidan Feoras." Aidan stared at Matt, looking confused. "And you might be…?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm new. I'm Yamato Ishida." Matt grinned at the guy. He looked cool.  
  
All I need to do is give it a few whacks, I suppose… Sora thought, surprised. She slowly stood up from her position on the ground to look at the newcomer to greet him. (A/N: If you're wondering, she didn't hear his name. Too involved in machines, you see.)  
  
"YOU!"  
  
****  
  
BUMBUMBUMBBUMBBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! This is it! Cliffhanger time! Fingers have apparently died, and I am using my toes to type this last note: REVIEW, READ and never forget to LEAVE NOSE HAIRS ALONE!!! 


	9. Starts With The Final Confrontation Ends...

Hello! I have returned to continue the story now! I have a feeling that this story will be longer than I expected. Well. Nothing I can do about that. The story is unfolding by itself. At last, we come to the "real" meeting. * Sounds the fanfares * Presenting…  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"YOU!!" Sora couldn't believe it. What was this bighead doing in Odaiba? Was he enrolled here? Gods, no.  
  
"YOU!!" Matt was enormously startled.  
  
"What are you doing here, you jerk?" Sora glared at him. Aki looked scandalized, for some reason, but she chose to ignore it. She supposed that Aki was just startled because she never really was that rude.  
  
"Excuse me?" Matt replied coldly. "I'm enrolled here, if you didn't know. You must live in some kind of hole in the ground not to know that I enrolled into this school."  
  
Sora was getting irritated by this guy. "What, did you have some sort of fanfare? Who do you think you are? Some big movie star? Man, people these days," she muttered, shooting him a dark look.  
  
"Yeah," Matt snorted. "I know. Some people lack respect for their betters."  
  
"Exactly. So start your groveling, swine-head."  
  
"Oh, well I think that—"  
  
"STOP THIS!" Aki exclaimed. "You know Yamato Ishida? Why on earth didn't you tell me? How long did you keep this knowledge from me? It's very unseemly."  
  
"I never said that I knew Yamato Ishida!" Sora protested indignantly. "You think that this jerk is Yamato Ishida? If the way you describe him to me is accurate, he's way too ugly to have any similarity with this rumor."  
  
"UGLY?" Matt couldn't believe this girl. An uncouth student, ungraceful, and blind? Nobody thought he was ugly. Nobody.  
  
Aki looked sheepish. "OK, so maybe my descriptions of him were a little overrated, but he is Yamato Ishida, Sora!"  
  
Sora tweaked her head around to look at him. This jerk was the revered Yamato Ishida?  
  
Matt looked right back at her, equally shocked. This uneducated little prick was everyone's beloved Sora Takenouchi?  
  
They have got to be kidding me… This was a shared thought as the both of them glared at each other warily. Aki and Aidan looked a little confused.  
  
"You know him, Sora?" Aki inquired. "Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
Sora looked at her skeptically. "Do you think that I want to know this guy? He's completely moronic and what's more, he's a jerk! He pushed me down the stairs last Monday!"  
  
"What makes you think that I knew you were there?" Matt griped.  
  
"Well, genius, if you know how to read, yeah, you could have seen the sign I taped on the door inside that told you to knock before you open. Just how low exactly is your IQ? Fifty below, perhaps? I knew all that head banging busted brain cells." Sora grinned triumphantly at him.  
  
Matt rolled his eyes. "The Teenage Wolves," he informed her, "do not head bang. We rock. Don't get it wrong next time."  
  
Sora challenged, "And what if I do? Are you gonna come here with your fan girls and beat me up? Whatever happened to chivalry? I guess it might have deteriorated thanks to chauvinists like you."  
  
"You don't even know me. Are you that quick to judge people because of that age-old sense of insecurity?" Matt's tone was lofty.  
  
"Ooh. Big word. ''Insecurity', are you sure that you know what that means? Moreover, do you know how to spell it? Poor baby," Sora sneered. (A/N: Ah, refreshing arguments…I could go on for days end but that'll get boring for people who want the Sorato to start.) "Besides, I think that my judgment of you is pretty accurate. What kind of a gentleman, after knocking a lady down several steps headfirst, would call her a little rat and walk away without even helping her up and apologizing?"  
  
"If you two wouldn't mind," Aidan suddenly cut in, "I think that the machine grew rather tired of your bickering, don't ye say? The soda has finally come out."  
  
Sora turned her head to peer down at the slot. "Finally!" She swooped down and grabbed it. "I've had enough of all this hot air," she exclaimed, giving him a look. "Come on, Aki. Let's go back to our table. Care to join us, Aidan?" she asked, pointedly excluding Matt.  
  
Aidan shrugged. Aki suddenly smiled at Sora nervously. "Eh…Sora? We kind of invited Matt to sit at our table." She wondered how this bit of news would be received.  
  
Sora slowly turned around to give Aki an incredulous look. "What on earth did you do that for?"  
  
Aki looked sheepish. "Well—"  
  
Sora waved her hand, as though brushing it off. "Well, that's all right. I think that I lost my appetite, so I'm off to the library once I finish my soda. I don't have to defile his Majesty's presence with my wits. Who knows? He might actually be infected with thought! Imagine that. No, wait. Don't. You might just sprain your brain."  
  
"What are you going to do in the library, redhead? Try for your very first time to learn the alphabet?" Matt smirked.  
  
"For your information, I go to the library to take up advanced psychology with the librarian. And if all she's telling me is right, you are a spoiled little boy who wants attention. I pity your family." She gave Matt a very direct look and sauntered off.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Aki couldn't understand why Sora was so mean to Matt. Sure, Matt sometimes had a rather inflated ego, but that was about it. Other than the fact that he thought that every woman in the world would fall for him, he was all right. But what he thought was sort of true. But Sora said that he was ugly.  
  
The three of them just stood there, gaping at her leaving form.  
  
"Well, that's what I call spunk," Aidan said, breaking the silence. "That Sora girl has quite a bit of it."  
  
"More than a bit, it seems," Matt grumbled, irritated for being so insulted by one girl who couldn't amount to much. After all, she didn't know who he was, so how could she be of any importance?  
  
He just didn't get that girl.  
  
Strangely, though, he wanted to. Very intriguing.  
  
I'm going to show her, he thought. No girl can resist the Ishida charm. And when I'm through with her, she won't be able to resist it, either.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
CRACKLE-CRACKLE!! The PA system let out a loud chorale of static.  
  
Tai winced as he heard a strange gurgling sound. Maybe that last prank wasn't as good as he thought. After all, the PA system probably had some very large aversion to marmalade.  
  
Izzy gave him a disapproving look as he realized what was up. "Tai, I don't think that was too smart."  
  
Tai beamed. "Whatever works."  
  
Izzy clucked his tongue disapprovingly and proceeded to tell Shina about what had happened just as Aki, Matt, and this guy Tai knew from the soccer team made their way towards their table.  
  
Tai noticed as they sat down that the three of them looked a little frazzled. He also noticed that Aki's hair looked really shiny, even in the lousy cafeteria light, especially as it shone in the sunlight coming from the window they were situated nearby. He blushed and forced his thoughts away from that. (A/N: OOOOOOHHH!!!) "What's up?" he inquired. "You guys don't look too good. And where's Sora? I thought that you guys said that you'd bring her here?" He also observed that Matt's face darkened a little when Tai said Sora's name. (A/N: I wonder why…)  
  
"Oh, we found her, all right," Aki said loudly, trying to be heard over the screaming static. "But it appears that she and Matt have already met, in ways that I prefer not to disclose upon the public in fear of ruin to Matt's image." Aki was a little cross with Matt. Being Aki, she wheedled all the details of their meeting and became snippy towards him when she found out how mean he was to Sora.  
  
But that didn't stop her rapt admiration for him, though.  
  
Chloris looked at Aidan, puzzled. "Umm…what's he got to do with this? Aidan, right?"  
  
Aidan nodded. "Aidan Feoras. And you're Chloris Erato? You know, I've heard of you, from the guys." Chloris nodded, smiling shyly. "They all annoy me so much. Sorry."  
  
Aidan shrugged. "That's all right. I don't believe them anyway."  
  
Tai had no idea what they were talking about, so he continued to pester Aki and Matt. "What do you mean, Aki? Matt? You've met Sora before?"  
  
Matt nodded. "Unfortunately."  
  
The look in Tai's eyes grew dreamy. "Isn't she a dish?"  
  
Matt nodded again, gravely this time, though. "Yes. She is. And I'd like to break her." He grinned.  
  
Tai looked curiously at his new friend. "I take it that you two met on bad terms?" he questioned. Aki nodded. "They had this round of insults before we could get the soda out of the machine."  
  
CCCRAAAAAAAACCCKKKKK!!!!!!!! A particularly earsplitting burst of electricity exploded from the PA system and finally, Principal Suzuki's voice was heard on the system.  
  
"WHOEVER PLACED MARMALADE INTO THE PA SYSTEM WILL HEAR FROM ME!!" she yelled, causing everyone to wince. She went on about it for a while before she finally cleared her throat. "Ahem. School today will be canceled. It appears that our two young celebrities Mimi Tachikawa and Yamato Ishida have caused several riots and disrupted each class they've been to, so school will resume on Thursday. Thank you. That is all."  
  
A great cheer rose up from the cafeteria. "No school until Tuesday! All right!" Aki said enthusiastically. "Thanks, Matt! Wait 'till Sora hears this!" and hopped off her stool and raced away in the direction of the school library.  
  
Izzy sighed, looking downhearted, Shina matching his expression perfectly. Tai looked at them curiously. "What's wrong?"  
  
Shina let out her breath and told him, "Well, Physics is next and Professor Nieko was supposed to give the class a two hundred-item quiz."  
  
Izzy's face was depressed, but he patted Shina's arm halfheartedly. "Don't worry. We still have Physics class on Thursday."  
  
Shina's expression was stricken. "Three whole days away!" she cried. Both of them had those comical rivers of tears running down their faces.  
  
Tai could only stare.  
  
****  
  
There you have it! But there's that last question someone asked me before: WHERE'S KEN?! Don't worry, he'll be coming up soon enough. What is a story without the complete cast of characters? The answer? It depends, because some stories are marvelous, even if they only contain a few of the characters, but it feels more homey if everyone is back at home. 


	10. Starts With Sadness Ends With Weary Conf...

OK, a little group of errors hath caught mine eye, thus I returned to the Internet to find the chapters all scrambled up. Therefore, I took it off, fixed it, and placed it back. So here is the tenth chapter… a little longer than usual, but I decided to lengthen the chapters. YAY! But of course, that means that it will take longer for me to post. Hehe. Sorry. I like the new Chapter Titles.  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora was busily returning the books she was reading to the shelves. After all, the lunch period was nearly ended. She couldn't afford to be late. Detention was bad enough. Hurriedly, she stuffed her psychology book into her bag and scurried out the doors regretfully. Because of meeting that stupid Yamato Ishida, she hadn't been able absorb much.  
  
As she walked down the corridor, she slammed right into Aki, who had come searching for her.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just wasn't—oh, hi Sora!" she said brightly. Sora looked at her for several seconds then sighed. "I can't stay mad at you, Aki. It's not your fault that he's a humongous jerk who thinks that the world falls at his feet."  
  
Aki gave her a big smile. "Thanks, Sora! Don't judge him too quickly. He can be nice, too. He's a little angry at what you're called him."  
  
Sora shrugged. "Am I supposed to care?"  
  
"All right, Sora." Aki turned her around and faced her squarely, hands on her hips. "What exactly happened last Friday that closed down your trait of giving people second chances? It must be really bad that you'd be like that to a new student."  
  
Sora sighed. "Look, Aki, I'll just tell you after school. The bell will go off pretty soon. I'm not up to facing Professor Nieko at the moment."  
  
"Sora, you have all the time to tell me. School is canceled for today, thanks to Mimi's and our favorite blond rock star's fame. The fan girls can do nothing but search for them in the wrong area. You guys had a hand in that, huh?"  
  
"OUR favorite blond rock star?" Sora arched her eyebrow. "Well, at least YOUR favorite blond rock star is good for one thing. I didn't get a chance to study for that test Professor Nieko is giving. Man, imagine that he's good for such a slacker thing. That's all he's good for, I guess."  
  
Aki looked exasperated. "Sora, he's not even here to get offended. Why are you insulting him?"  
  
"Can't I just express my hate for the pig?"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"School's canceled?" Davis exclaimed. "All right! To the soccer field! Kari, are you coming with me?" he smiled at her in what he hoped was a handsome and winning smile.  
  
Kari looked at him, confused. "Davis? Are you all right? Your face looks kind of…weird."  
  
"What she means to say," Yolei put in, "but is too polite to do so, being Kari, is that you look kind of look like you swallowed one of Mrs. Kamiya's infamous health shakes while sipping raw lemons."  
  
TK burst out laughing. "On the mark!"  
  
Davis pouted. "Well, Jun thinks that it's not that bad a smile."  
  
"That was a smile? I thought you were going to be sick, Davis. And since when did you start asking Jun about that kind of advice?"  
  
"Shut up. TL."  
  
Kari looked regretful. "Anyway, sorry Davis. I can't go with you to the soccer field." She brightened up. "But I'll be going with TK to meet his brother, so that's not so bad." She gave TK a lovely smile, taking his hand. TK thought that he could see steam leaving his somewhat friend's ears. "Are you all right, Davis?"  
  
"Of course I am, TR. Why wouldn't I be all right? I'm not happy, though, because you're taking MY girl with you." Davis glared at TK, who looked kind of confused.  
  
"Huh?" TK scratched his hat with his other free hand. He asked with a puzzled look on his face, "What are you talking about, Davis? What do you mean by that? She's just Kari," looking generally and authentically confused. (A/N: CLUELESS!!!!)  
  
Kari sighed. "Davis, once and for all, I am NOT your girl."  
  
Davis shrugged. "Well, it's fun to pretend. Who knows when it will become reality?" (A/N: God forbid!)  
  
"God forbid!" Yolei teased. (A/N: Hey! I said that! GAYA-GAYA!)  
  
Davis continued pouting as they walked down the school entrance. Opening the double doors, they were relieved to find out that all the fans had disappeared. The front of the school was totally deserted by the mob. There was just the usual amount of students going home due to the announcement made by Principal Takako, the principal of the elementary and middle school of Odaiba. TK and Kari turned down the sidewalk and Davis gaped as Yolei turned to follow them.  
  
"Well, see ya, Davis!" Yolei grinned and followed Kari and TK.  
  
"Hold it!" Davis yelled, causing his friends to stop and look at him curiously. "Where are you all going?"  
  
"Yeah, Davis?" TK inquired. "We're going to meet my brother. Didn't we just tell you?"  
  
"What about Yolei?" Davis was fuming. "Why is she going, too? Who's going to go with me?"  
  
"No one, I guess!" Yolei stuck her fingers into a V sign as she clung to TK's arm, turning the corner. "See ya, Davis!"  
  
"Wha?" Davis yelped. "If Kari and Yolei are coming, then I'm coming, too!" he ran to catch up with them. "WAIT FOR MEEEEEEE!!!!"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Tai cheerfully bounced his soccer ball from knee to knee, whistling the Digimon Theme song. He had a reason to be happy. After all, the cancellation of classes also included his detention service, too. Grinning, he kneed the ball high enough to hit it with his head, just for kicks. (A/N: Hehe.)  
  
He briefly wondered where Davis was, but then decided that he was probably off chasing Kari or something. He normally didn't like guys paying attention to his younger sister, but he knew that Davis knew that if he tried anything funny, Tai would be there to merrily beat him up.  
  
Musing deeply, he thought about the recent turn of events. He was now friends with a rock star and a supermodel-like actress, a large-mouthed girl with the shiniest black hair, two incredibly intelligent and nerdy students who loved the old Digimon series, two exchange students, one from Greece and the other from Ireland, both never have dated in their lives, and an equally smart girl named Sora who was surprisingly sneaky.  
  
Who'd have thought of that?  
  
What Tai would have really liked, though, was to meet a world famous classical composer, or at least, a composer. Tai wanted to try out the piano or the violin, but when you think about it, he never knew how to carry a tune in a bucket, moreover, a bathtub. He decided to settle with soccer, another thing he was good at.  
  
Sighing despite his unbelievable turn of luck, Tai sat down on a park bench and stretched out with his arms there kicking his soccer ball between two well-trained feet. He was enjoying the peace while mulling over his problem about the composer. (A/N: He'll come up soon. Ten points are up for grabs! I've said that before, eh? Well then, I'd say it again!)  
  
He closed his eyes. A few moments later, he heard some rustling sounds and the familiar tune of sneaker hitting soccer ball. Unfortunately for the soccer player he couldn't see, Tai's feet were in the way and before Tai could open his eyes and know that he was about to trip someone, the someone came flying past and landed with a loud WHUMPH on the floor.  
  
Tai's eyes flew open and he hurriedly stood, running to where the kid had fallen. "Hey, man, are you all right?" He bent down to check if the kid was unconscious. He looked around Kari's age and had longish, even, blackish- purple hair. (A/N: Here's the ten-pointer: Who is he? DUH!!!) The kid's eyes opened to reveal hazy violet eyes. To Tai, the kid seemed kind of familiar. He looked kind of dazed. "Huh?" he made out.  
  
Tai winced at the temporary amnesia he had given the kid. "Sorry, pal. I didn't know you were coming, so I had no time to draw back my feet. Are you OK?"  
  
The kid slowly stood up. He was wearing a maroon sweatshirt that was a little oversized and a nice pair of slacks ruined by his sudden accidental and unwilling "urge" to kiss the ground. "I'm all right. Sorry I interrupted your daydreaming, or whatever." The kid smiled softly. "I didn't mean to."  
  
"Of course you didn't, kid!" Tai was startled at this kid's complete humility. (A/N: How unlike the Kaiser… Well, I'm sure that you know who this kid is, so that's not really ten points gone to waste!! For all those who don't know, with the exception of Tai, he's KEN, KEN, KEN ICHIJOUJI!!) "Don't worry about it! I'm Taichi Kamiya, and if that was a soccer ball you were kicking, I'm guessing that you're going to try out for the soccer team."  
  
The kid who we all know is Ken nodded, looking unhappy. "Yeah. I'm trying out for the soccer team. I want to join because…anyway, I'm sure it doesn't matter to you," his cheeks reddening a bit.  
  
Tai shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You need help for training?" he offered his services. "Anytime you want to have practice as long as I have time, and no charge at all!" He paused. "Well, maybe with the exception of a sundae cone, but that's about it. No more, no less, but it's sure to get you on the team." (A/N: He's that confident about his skills?)  
  
The youth beamed. "Thanks, Taichi!"  
  
Tai grinned back. "No problem. Call me Tai. Oh, and just one more thing—what's your name?"  
  
"I'm Ken."  
  
"Ah. Come on, let's look for your soccer ball."  
  
After they had found Ken's soccer ball, Tai and Ken headed to the field to practice. Ken had potential, but he often stumbled because he wasn't confident enough and was a little too pensive. Usually, Tai had to shake him out of his daydreams.  
  
"Hey, Ken!" Tai yelled from across the field. "Wake up!"  
  
Ken jolted out of his daydream and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Yes, Tai?"  
  
"Stop daydreaming!"  
  
"OK." Ken noticed that the sun seemed to be sinking. (A/N: Of course, we all know that the sun doesn't exactly sink, and Ken, being a genius, knows that, so I decided to put the 'seemed' there, since he's such a brain and all…OK, enough explaining.) He glanced at his watch and gasped. "I have to go eat dinner with my family now. Is it all right with you if I just pack up and go home?"  
  
"Sure. It's about time I went home, too. Where is your stuff?"  
  
"I'll be right back." Ken disappeared into the foliage and returned with a duffel bag, only to collide with the soccer ball Tai had been previously kicking. He was sprawled on the ground as Tai worriedly jogged over. "Sorry, Ken!" He looked embarrassed. "I just didn't expect you to burst out from behind those bushes. Are you OK?"  
  
Ken nodded dizzily. "Fine." His eyes snapped fully open. "My violin!" He quickly ripped down the zipper of his duffel bag and pulled out a violin case, taking out the violin.  
  
Tai's eyes bulged out of his head. It was a Stradivarius violin! Ken didn't notice Tai's astounded reaction as he busily checked the violin for any harm.  
  
"Y-you play the violin?" Tai stuttered. "Are you good?"  
  
Ken nodded, looking uncomfortable. "They've asked me to play for the school orchestra several times. Well, gotta go now. It's curry night." He stood up and started down the path that would eventually branch out into a sidewalk.  
  
They had to ask him? Tai reflected on that for a moment. He suddenly felt a sneaking suspicion crawl up to him,, poke him in the eye and call him several names Kari used to call him. "Hey Ken!" he called after his new friend. "What's your full name?"  
  
Ken turned back as he continued to walk. "I'm Ken Ichijouji. See ya!" He spun around just in time to jump over a large stone rather clumsily.  
  
Tai suddenly dropped his soccer ball. He had just met, no, not only met, but knocked down several times with a soccer ball the famous teenaged composer Ken Ichijouji. The same Ken Ichijouji who won awards for his musical composition using the styles of Renaissance, Baroque, not only Classical. The same Ken Ichijouji who had released several musical CDs Tai possessed in his room.  
  
Tai suddenly had the urge to sit down. He stumbled back to the park bench and collapsed.  
  
This was some day.  
  
****  
  
There's Ken! Happy? Anyway, don't you pity Tai? He's so confused… 


	11. Starts With Weary Confusion Ends With A ...

I'm back! I had a nice vacation, but NOW, it ended badly because my floppy disk is whacking out on me! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
****  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Matt slowly awoke to the shrill screaming of his alarm clock. His eyes blinked owlishly as his hand hit the digital clock's button. As the beeping stopped, he wondered why he was so irritated. Then it came to him.  
  
"No school!" he groaned. "Waking up this early…" he muttered and stood up and stretched. He remembered now. Thanks to his and Mimi's fame, they had managed to shirk several days of classes and annoying yet pleasing fans.  
  
Not that I'm complaining. He made his way to the bathroom and took a shower. He had spent the last night dining with his mother, TK and TK's friends, Kari Kamiya, who he had already met, Davis Motomiya and Yolei Inoue. Davis seemed to have some animosity towards TK but it wasn't real. What was funny, though, was that Kari seemed to be enamored of TK, who, in return, had no idea of those affections while Davis was attempting to wrest those feelings which TK had unknowingly taken from Kari without any effort away.  
  
Must be the Ishida charm. (A/N: I know it's been used. But it's helpful here, so you ain't got anything to do about it.)  
  
The girl Yolei was star struck but smart enough to hold a conversation with. He thought that his little brother's friends were amusing and genuinely hoped to know more of what went on in TK's life. Like how he felt about Tai's sister, for instance. (A/N: Hehe, LOOOVE!! Measure in love…Seasons of…LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!! *Repeat several times before lady starts wailing.)  
  
After Matt finished up his shower and dressed up, he found notes explaining that his mother was busy covering some story and would be back soon and that TK was over at his friend's house, probably for the day. Lounging around on the couch after breakfast, he wondered what he would do next. There was absolutely nothing on his schedule that day except for band practice at five. Since it was quite a long wait, he decided to do something to keep him busy.  
  
Normally, Matt let the trash around the place heap up until he could hardly move a finger without ramming it into a pile of trash before starting a major cleaning spree, but in this case, he decided, to kill time, he'd make an exception. After all, he never got Tai's number or any of his new friends the day before and he cringed at the thought of calling his cousin. Admittedly, her voice sounded very much like his alarm clock.  
  
Things to do: buy a new alarm clock.  
  
Busily, he started to wash the dishes that had piled up in the past few months. It appeared that his mother had no love for that activity either.  
  
At around eleven o'clock, he had finished dusting the furniture (which was spotless, by the way. It seems that his mother just hated dishes), sweeping the floor, straightened up the beds, did the laundry and cooked lunch. (A/N: Thanks to…SUPERMAN!)  
  
As he started to dig into the pasta he had made (A/N: Bolognese! One of me faves!), the doorbell rang piercingly and a feminine voice called out. Sighing, he regretfully stood up and went to answer the door, hoping that it wasn't any of his fans. After all, they would be a large nuisance. He peered into the peephole as the voice from outside asked for his mom.  
  
"Ms. Takaishi? Are you in? I've finished developing your pictures." Her voice sounded familiar but Matt couldn't put his finger on it. Her features were distorted by the peephole but he managed to make out bright ginger hair. (A/N: I'm sure that all of you know who she is, so no ten points are being given out for you. But if you don't know, guess right, I'll give you ten points. Honesty is the best policy.)  
  
Matt gaped for a second and then opened the door quickly, causing the girl to come tumbling in. She must have been leaning on the door. He stared down at her and her up at him.  
  
It was Sora Takenouchi.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
A minute of confusion passed before Sora stood up angrily. "What are you doing here?" She was surprised. What on earth would that stupid Ishida be doing in Ms. Takaishi's home?  
  
"I live here, carrot brains." The blonde rolled his eyes.  
  
"No, Ms. Takaishi and TK live here. You're Ishida." She glared at him.  
  
"She's my mother, wouldn't you know? TK's my brother. That's what happens when we come from the same parents." His admonishing voice increased her irritation.  
  
"You're ISHIDA. Wouldn't she be Mrs. Takaishi instead of Ms. Takaishi and TK be Takeru Ishida instead of Takeru Takaishi?"  
  
He held up a finger. "Just one thing, little Sora. How do you know my mother and my brother? Are they the people who you personally stalk to give you personal reports of my life? You should get a life, too come to think of it. Skulking around in gutters won't get you anywhere."  
  
"Excuse me," Sora said acerbically, "But I just happen to know them because I used to baby-sit TK and I work as a photographer and picture developer for Ms. Takaishi. I don't do a Jun Motomiya and stalk people for reports about rock stars who have rocks for brains and stars in their eyes that are blocking their perception of the reality that they are nothing in the real world!" She paused and took a deep breath after saying such a long exclamation.  
  
Yamato Ishida arched his eyebrow. "How do you know about the 'real world', Miss Takenouchi? I do believe that you've never gone anywhere out of Odaiba, so how can you say those things when you yourself have no perception at all about this 'real world' of yours?"  
  
She gave him a fixed stare. "Having no perception is better than having a foolish one like yours, Ishida. At least I don't have to be biased about what I know and I can build up my own perception of the real world. You, on the other hand, can be sure that I will be around to point and laugh at you when you find out that your silly perception of yourself in the real world is wrong. By the way, I have gone to America twice and three times to Africa."  
  
He seemed to just about have it at that point. "You know what? I don't think that I can take any more of this. You're insulting me on my own doorstep!"  
  
"Can't handle it, Ishida?" Her taunting tone appeared set his teeth on edge.  
  
Sora couldn't help it. This guy seemed to bring out the worst in her. She never taunted anyone in her life with real malice.  
  
"What do you want, Takenouchi? What are you here for?"  
  
Sora sighed. "Just give this to Ms. Takaishi and leave me alone."  
  
"Leave you alone?" His expression was incredulous. "Excuse me, redhead, but I think that it is you who, at the moment, is knocking in on me."  
  
Her eyes narrowed at him. "Well, if you think that way, then I should be going then—"  
  
All of a sudden, a lovely brown-haired woman came down the corridor and peeked into the open door. "Matt, why is the door—Sora! Do you have the pictures I asked you to develop?"  
  
Sora looked at the woman. "Ms. Takaishi?"  
  
"Sora, have you met my son? He's just your age. By the way, don't revert to that Ms. Takaishi again. Didn't I ask you to call me Nancy?" Nancy Takaishi put her arm around Ishida, who looked at her smugly, brow slightly arched in a sardonic manner.  
  
She clenched her teeth. "Yes, I have."  
  
"Well, then, since you two know each other, why don't you join us for lunch? I'd like discuss more about the photographs with you. Takeru isn't here, so you can take his place at the table while he's gone."  
  
Sora swallowed. "Well…" She thought about it. Her mom was going to a flower conference and eating dinner along is usually depressing, unless it's the first time you get peace ad quiet. It would be nice to eat with some other people. But the problem was that Yamato Ishida was eating here, too  
  
"Good then," Nancy announced, taking her silence for an agreement. "I believe that I smell Bolognese pasta from the kitchen. Coming, Matt?"  
  
Nancy grabbed Sora's hand and dragged her to the dining area in their apartment. Matt followed, enjoying the expression of dread on Takenouchi's face but also not looking forward to lunch.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Things didn't start out too well because as soon as the three of them sat down at the table, the phone rang for Ms. Nancy Takaishi. So she left the two adolescents at the table, warily looking at each other while one ate his pasta and the other nudged it around her plate.  
  
"Well, why aren't you eating, rat?"  
  
Sora looked up at Matt, her face contorted in anger. "Excuse me, but I believe that I am a guest in your brother's home, Ishida. Do you have the manners to treat me like one or were you too rebellious for this kind of propriety?"  
  
Matt rolled his eyes. "Sorry, Takenouchi, but you owe me an apology, first."  
  
Sora couldn't believe this guy. "Pardon me, but don't you think that YOU ought to apologize to ME? What wrong did I do to you?"  
  
Matt shrugged carelessly. "Well, you embarrassed me in front of Aki and Aidan, and you actually don't know who I am, so…" he shrugged again. "You should say that you're sorry." (A/N: Someone's feeling a little high up above others today, isn't he?)  
  
Sora growled, "I really would have no reason to act like that if you hadn't had pushed me down the stairs last Friday. What's more, you didn't bother to express regret for pushing me down. Does all that headbanging cause all comportments of etiquette to leak out? I don't hold grudges, but for you, Ishida, feel lucky because I believe that for you I'll make an exception for the very first time."  
  
Matt put down his fork abruptly. "For the last time, the Teenage Wolves don't headbang!"  
  
"Does it matter to me?"  
  
Nancy put down the phone and took her seat again, just as Matt bit back the nasty comment he was about to deliver to that smirking rodent's face.  
  
"So, Sora," Nancy said easily. "About those photographs…"  
  
Thus Nancy Takaishi spent the entire lunch chatting about the photographs and a new favor she was to give to Sora for photography as Sora and Matt had a nasty kicking contest under the table. But she didn't tell Sora anything more about it than that she would give it to her next month.  
  
Soon enough, the torturous lunch ended and it was time for Sora to get going to the flower shop.  
  
Her knees and shins and Matt's were all covered in bruises. Unfortunately, Ms. Takaishi came up with an idea that seemed perfectly fine to her yet not to the others.  
  
"Matt, would you mind walking Sora home?" This question raised all sorts of objections.  
  
Sora protested, "Nancy, I'm pretty fine off walking home on my own. It's not night yet."  
  
"Yeah, and I have some, uh, homework to do." Matt seriously hoped that his mother wasn't listening to him when he said the opposite last night.  
  
Alas. "Nonsense. Matt, don't you know how to act around women?" This caused Sora to hide a smile behind her hand. "And you told me yourself that you have no homework for school. Besides, Sora, I need you to tell Matt about what's going on in Odaiba. I'm too out of touch sometimes, so I need someone young to inform my son."  
  
"Nancy, I—"  
  
But in the end, Nancy Takaishi won out over the two teenagers.  
  
Well, that was a refreshing argument, Nancy thought as she watched them go. There was a stony silence as he and she walked down the steps. Sora snapped, "I'm not going to my home, Ishida. I have to go to my mother's store, so leave me alone." She maneuvered around him so that she was walking ahead of him. Matt jogged to catch up with her. He was going to enjoy this.  
  
"Sorry, nerd, but you heard my mother. What's important event is going on here in Odaiba that I might have interest enough in it to have my mother pester an overgrown carrot to tell me about?" Matt was genuinely curious, but he decided not to show it.  
  
The girl glared at him through largely narrowed eyes. "Excuse me, but this is where I get off."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
She ran into the parking lot and soon produced a bicycle. "Well, Ishida, as much as I hate to say this, I'll have to say that you do good pasta."  
  
Matt was surprised. A compliment? From Sora Takenouchi? Warily, he arched his (A/N: perfect) eyebrow at her.  
  
She smiled at him cheekily. "You'd do great in Home Economics. For a guy."  
  
Why was she being so reasonable all of a sudden? Matt looked around. Was there any traps? His searching eyes had found the most terrifying kind of trap of all: There was an enormous mob of gibbering fan girls running at him from down the street. Well. That's why she's smiling at me. It's good to be nice to people who you think are going to die. At least it wasn't a mad raving mass of slobbering rabid twelve-foot tall monkeys out to eat his liver…actually, when you think about it figuratively, they are…drat.  
  
Matt sighed and looked at Sora. "Forgive me."  
  
He grabbed her bike and pedaled off down the sidewalk quickly. "HEY!" Sora yelled. "That's my bike!" Then, "Whoa!" as she was pushed aside by the screaming fan girls. She fell to the lawn and glared Matt's disappearing figure. "I hope they get you," she muttered. "You deserve it."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Tai grinned as he sat down on his bed. He had the whole day to himself. Kari had gone to her friend Yolei's house and his parents were off at work. How would he spend the day?  
  
As he pondered this, he scratched Kari's cat Miko behind the ears. Digging into the fridge wouldn't work; after all, there was never any good things to eat there, other than potato onion and chili salad or celery-lychee soda.  
  
Just the thought of it curled his toes.  
  
Suddenly, the alarm clock across the room rang, a little late. Tai started and his surprised hand caused Miko to fall over the bed. Miko glared at Tai and walked out of the room, tail raised indignantly. Tai wondered briefly how cats could be so willful and ran to get his soccer ball. He needed to get out of the house.  
  
Might as well go to the park. (A/N: Have you noticed that in other Digimon stories, parks play a big role?)  
  
Soon enough, he arrived at the park. Sitting down on a bench to rest from the jog to the park, he watched the people passing by. And wouldn't he be so surprised when he saw the famous rock star himself, Yamato Ishida, pedal by, looking as ragged as a poor beggar in the hot Sahara Desert.  
  
"Matt!" Tai yelped. "What happened to you? You look like you've been run over by a steamroller and caught up in a cyclone!" he paused. "Is that possible? You're alive, after all." He shrugged.  
  
Matt looked at him and grinned weakly. "Hey, Tai." He walked the bike over and sat down on the bench. Collapsed, actually. Tai glanced at him inquiringly.  
  
The blonde-haired boy sighed. "It's one of the cons of being famous, you see. Over-obsessed fan girls have no sense humility or honor, whatsoever. They would've poured all over me if I hadn't…oh no."  
  
"Oh no, what?" Tai prodded, curious.  
  
Matt put his head in his hands. "I stole this bike from Takenouchi! She's going to kill me."  
  
Tai arched his eyebrow. "Really? Now what were you doing with Sora that gave you the chance to steal her bike? Tell me everything."  
  
Matt gave him a dark look. "She and my mom are on first-name basis." He then proceeded to tell him his account of what happened. "By the way, Tai, my mom said that there was something happening here in Odaiba. She said that it might interest me somehow. Do you have any idea what she meant? What is going on that is so interesting that my mother would talk to me about it?"  
  
Tai thought hard. "Well, there's that bake sale going on next week, but I doubt that you'll find interest in that, right? There's the soccer tryouts, the dog show tomorrow, the Digimon marathon starting next Friday, the astronomy thing, the—"  
  
Matt's eyes lightened. "What astronomy thing?"  
  
He answered, "I don't really know much about it because I'm not really into astronomy, but I gathered that there's the star-gazing thing, some seminar about the universe…you can read more about it in the newspaper tomorrow. It's going to happen the week after the next one."  
  
"Ah…" A smiled crept up Matt's fatigued face. "That's just what my mom meant!"  
  
"You mean you like stars?"  
  
Well, I always had this dream of becoming an astronaut, but I decided that it could wait until I'm, what, thirty-five or something? Forty? Anyway, thanks, Tai."  
  
"Don't mention it."  
  
"All right, I won't."  
  
Tai rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I just wish you luck with Sora. I wouldn't want to be you when you return her bike. She has a mean kick."  
  
Matt winced, glancing at his battered knees. "Don't remind me."  
  
"Don't frown, Matt. It'll give you wrinkles."  
  
Matt gaped at Tai. "You sound just like Mimi…" he whispered, amazed.  
  
"Eh?" Tai gave him a puzzled look.  
  
"She tells me that all the time."  
  
"Right. Anyway, you have anything important to do today? I have nothing at all on my usually bustling itinerary."  
  
Matt sighed. "Other than band practice sometime later, I'm pretty clear. I was actually planning to spend the day examining every inch of my life before it is taken away from me when I go to return Sora's bike, but I'm sure that I can do that on the long ride to Sora's." (A/N: Y'know, I just realized that this sounds familiar. Then I thought: Hey, isn't that Misty's plot to stick with Ash? I swear the idea for Matt to take Sora's bike just evolved from the need for the fan girls to come swarming in.)  
  
A thought occurred to him. "But wait, how do I return it to Sora? I have no idea at all of where she lives and waiting 'til Thursday will probably encourage her to find a way to keep me alive to see her eat my heart." (A/N: Thank you, David and Leigh Eddings!)  
  
"Well…" Tai thought for a moment. "I know that her mother owns this flower shop a few blocks down. If you're lucky, she wouldn't be there and all you have to do is leave her bike there."  
  
"What if she is there?"  
  
"Get ready to run like hell."  
  
****  
  
There's the next chapter, folks! How do you like it: rare, medium, or raw? Burnt's pretty silly, though. I'm not making sense. Anyway, I'll get the next chapter up once I figure out what's wrong with my disk. There are a bunch of weird characters in replacement of the words I wrote. Dratted, I had to delete the prologue to a new story because I couldn't understand anything at all!  
  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! 


	12. Starts With A Moment With Death Ends Wit...

Will Matt live through Sora's wrath? Why the heck did I put Aidan in? Will Aki say her first words of wisdom? Will Sora disembowel him with a cotton slipper or hang, draw and quarter him with a bunch of flowers?  
  
The answer?  
  
………………NOT TELLIN'!!!!  
  
See, if I did, you would probably stop reading and move on to a better story. *sniffs indignantly and turns away* Fine. *looks back*  
  
PLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEE??????????????  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Aki glanced up from arranging a spray of lilies to watch a fuming Sora Takenouchi stomp into the shop and out the door into the backroom of Mrs. Takenouchi's store. She put down the spray and went to ask her friend what had happened.  
  
Opening the door, she found the girl punching the wall with a delicate yet firm fist in a furious manner.  
  
"Sora!" Aki called. "I'm sure that whatever happened to you, the wall had nothing to do with it! It was here all day! Honest!"  
  
Sora turned from her pummeling and arched an eyebrow at Aki. Sheepishly, Aki shrugged. "Well, it was."  
  
With a sigh, Sora collapsed into a chair and punched her fist. "I hate him," she declared. "I hate him."  
  
Wincing, Aki sat on the chair next to hers. "Let me guess—"  
  
"No need to guess." Sora scowled. "It was that stupid Ishida. Next time I see him, I'm gonna hurt him so bad that—"  
  
"Hold it!" Aki interrupted. "Before you tell me your plans on what to do to my favorite rock star, tell me what did he do that was so bad that it caused you to get your tail in a knot? (A/N: DDDDAAAAAAVVVVIIIDDD & LLLEEEEEIIGHH!!!! THANK YOU!!! I HONOR THE GROUND THAT YOU WALK ON!!) Remember, that multitude of his worshippers are a lot more fanatical than those Beatles zealots, surprisingly."  
  
"You'd know," Sora muttered. "You used to be one of them."  
  
"'Used to be'?" Aki's face was aghast. "What are you talking about? I still am! But then, the urge to mob doesn't quite hit me as much as it did before."  
  
Sora rolled her eyes and leaned back. "Well, basically, that jerk took off on my bike. He stole it!"  
  
"I'm sure he had a good reason to do so," Aki announced. "Tell me what happened."  
  
So Sora launched off into a detailed account of how Yamato Ishida had stolen her bike, starting from when Sora knocked in on the Takaishi apartment. Of course, it took longer than it usually would, since she often went off into fits of anger, endlessly cursing Yamato Ishida's name until Aki managed to calm her down.  
  
Looking a little confused, Aki managed to piece the basic story together, excluding all the adjectives Sora used to replace Matt's name. Examining the facts, Aki came to a conclusion. "Sora, when he returns your bike, I think that you should forgive him."  
  
Sora's reaction to that was ear-piercing. "WWWWHHHHAAAAAATTTTT?"  
  
Aki hastily continued, "Listen, if you had a mob of fans running after you, wouldn't you do the anything to get away? I mean, Matt's fans are really serious. It's kinda scary. You'd do anything to get away from them."  
  
Sora looked pensive. "Well…he didn't even ask for my permission."  
  
"Ya think he had the time to? From what I hear, those groupies spend the other half of their time doing calisthenics or something in order to keep fit to run all across town after him."  
  
"Where'd you hear that?" Sora's expression was amused.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Aki waved that off irritably. "I did NOT do any of that. You could say that I was milder than they were. So will you forgive Matt or not?"  
  
"Umm…no."  
  
A large tic grew in Aki's pale forehead. "For crying out loud, Sora, forgive him and stop acting like some spoiled brat! It's not like you to hold a grudge. Just let it slide, I mean, it's just a bike."  
  
After much persuasion in Aki's part, Sora still refused to budge. She was fully intent on carving out his liver with a blunt spoon. Eventually, Aki had to resort to bullying with blackmail. The threat of having her secrets announced on the PA system. Hatefully, Sora relented and stormily exited the back room to start arranging the flowers.  
  
Aki grinned triumphantly and marched after her.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Tai arched his eyebrow at the supposedly cool rock star that at the moment was worrying about what a girl would do to him because he stole her bike. As the blonde star wheeled the bike down the sidewalk, Tai saw everything Matt didn't. The lovely sunshine, the bright green trees, the smiling people…well, except for that old bald guy. He looks kinda mad.  
  
As they turned into the block where Sora's mother's shop could be found, Tai found his new friend's face to be blank.  
  
"Are you all right, man?" Tai queried. "You look kinda like your face got sucked into the vacuum cleaner."  
  
Matt broke out of his reverie and looked at Tai. "Excuse me, what were you saying?"  
  
To which he replied, "Forget it. We're at the shop now."  
  
He peered through the glass window and saw an explosion of color. The flowers were very bright. Glancing back at Matt, he smiled sympathetically. "This is it for you, man. I'm off now." He turned to leave.  
  
Then a voice rang out. "You want us to close the shop for today? But it's only around four or so…" The voice, which came from inside the shop, sounded familiar to Tai and he looked back. There was a head of smooth- looking shiny black hair with a phone pressed to one ear. (A/N: Hehe. Haha. Hoho. Hihi. Huhu. Sorry.) Tai stared, walking a little slower. The girl in the window continued, "OK, Mrs. Takenouchi…Yeah, we can handle it…Don't worry about it…No the dahlias aren't dead yet—should they be? …Oh...OK, we'll take care of that. You can count on it…don't worry. Good-bye."  
  
The girl holding the phone put the receiver down and looked right out the window at Tai. Her face showed her surprise. "Tai! What are you doing here?" she opened the door and beckoned to him.  
  
Tai blinked. "Aki?"  
  
Putting her hands to her hips and grinning, she replied, "No one but. Now answer me, what are doing in front of a flower shop?" She looked up at him. That's when she noticed Matt behind him with the bike. "Oh…hi Matt. Well…" she let out a short laugh. "Man, I definitely wouldn't want to be you right now."  
  
"Me neither," Matt replied gloomily. "So she's here?"  
  
Aki nodded.  
  
Matt's face brightened. "Maybe if I just leave the bike here with you—"  
  
"Oh no." Aki shook her head firmly. "What makes you think that she'll forget about this tomorrow? Don't worry TOO much, I managed to, ah, how do you say, browbeat it into her not to carve you open with a blunt spoon. She'll be even angrier if you confront her at school. Besides, I don't think that being beaten up by a girl in front of the whole school would polish your image any more."  
  
Tai was amused. "Just for one bicycle…"  
  
"It holds a lot of sentimental value for her."  
  
"Ah."  
  
Tai's eyes wandered to her hair. It looks lustrous today…Argh! Tai shook his head, trying to focus on the matter at hand. Aki arched her eyebrow at this odd-seeming behavior. "Right. Well, no use avoiding the inevitable. Come on in."  
  
Matt sighed and ran a hand through his spiky golden hair. "Good-bye, world."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora decided that she had cooled down by now and examined the events rationally. What Aki said actually made sense…for once. Pondering about what she would do if he stopped by today, her hands absently arrayed the lovely blossoms in the vases. She turned to another bouquet and picked it up. They were made up of lovely and imported hyacinth, phlox and Chinese delphinium flowers, some of Sora's many favorite kinds of flowers. She smiled dreamily as she inhaled them deeply.  
  
Their sweet smells suddenly set her mind at ease and closing her eyes, she turned around and called to Aki, "Aki, I'm a feel more rational. I must have acted pretty childish, huh? I'm calmer now." She opened her eyes when she heard someone cough.  
  
She saw Aki holding open the door for two people. Customers? They looked familiar…Sora squinted and saw that the first one was Tai and behind him…  
  
Yamato Ishida.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
A voice from deep within the shop called out, "Aki, I feel a lot calmer now. I must have acted pretty childish, huh? I'm a little more rational now."  
  
Matt inwardly groaned. Well, Aki told you that she was here. He took a deep breath and followed Tai into the shop. As he entered the store, he saw her. She was wearing an apron similar to Aki's and the street clothes she had worn when she went to the Takaishi apartment. She also was holding a beautiful spray of colorful flowers to her face and her eyes were closed dreamily.  
  
Like some sort of a faerie… Something in Matt's mind murmured. Blanching, Matt cleared his throat. Takenouchi? A faerie? Right.  
  
The voice he knew as Sora Takenouchi's suddenly said something again, only this time, with a little more force.  
  
"YOU! You stole my bike, Ishida!"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Not calm enough, it appears," Matt muttered under his breath and, clearing his throat, spoke aloud, "I'm, ah, here to return your bike."  
  
"No, DUH." She stomped to him, putting the spray into a vacant vase at her side. "You have some explaining to do, Ishida!"  
  
Aki cleared her throat loudly, her eyes shooting Sora a look that was probably supposed to mean something. Sora blanched and recalled that Aki had resorted to blackmail. Realizing that her social life was at stake, she took another deep breath and said through clenched teeth, "Please."  
  
Matt looked a little irritated as he said, "You were there, Sora Takenouchi. I don't owe you any explanation."  
  
Aki looked murderous. "Don't be rude, idiot," she muttered.  
  
Unfortunately, Matt didn't hear this, so he continued, "I stole your bike and I've come here to give it back to you."  
  
Through VERY clenched teeth, Sora growled, "WHY did you steal my bike?"  
  
Matt suddenly went down on one knee and took her hand. With too much of an extra flair, he announced, "All right, Miss All-Powerful Takenouchi, I humbly beg your forgiveness for taking your two-wheeled transport without your royal acceptance."  
  
Sora stared down at him and he stared back, trying to cause her to turn into a vegetable. Her reaction, however, was one he didn't expect.  
  
She yanked her hand back, eyes dangerously slanted. "Jerk! Some apology you're giving, making fun of me." She whirled around on one foot and stormed away deeper into the shop, muttering things about lousy rock stars.  
  
Tai and Aki gaped at Matt, who remained on his knee, eyebrows arched. Then he stood up, "OK, I expressed regret already, now can I go home?"  
  
Aki shook out of her trance and glared at him. "Oh, no. You're going after her to apologize."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Yes, you are," Aki answered firmly. "I know Sora's moods. If we leave her like this, she's likely to pulverize you the next time you say something to her."  
  
"And we wouldn't want that, would we?" Tai grinned evilly.  
  
"Now come on, guys!" Matt complained, rising to his feet. "I think that it's pretty clear that she won't accept any apologies from me. Nothing we can do now. Grudges are hard to erase."  
  
"Nuh-uh." Aki shook her head. "Sora is one of the most forgiving people I know and this is the first time she's ever held a grudge for someone, other than those people who caused an oil spill in the ocean several years ago."  
  
"Face the music, man," Tai said and pushed him in the direction Sora had angrily gone off to. "It's now or never. If what Aki's telling us is true, you'll be better off getting yelled at today than murdered on Thursday."  
  
Sighing heavily, Matt groaned and relented. "All right. All right. I'm going. You two'd better be right about this."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
He found Sora in another section of the surprisingly large flower shop where there was a display of flowering shrubs; according to a large plaque, they were called Garden Perennials. He could identify some of the rare ones, such as the radiant Flame Azalea and the Big-Leaved Hydrangea. Other more common displays were of the Lilac flowers and the Hybrid Tea Rose. Other than that, Matt had no idea what else was in there.  
  
She was angrily cramming a bright yellow flower into a terra cotta pot, muttering words Matt couldn't hear. She glanced up, saw him and glared, returning to the pot, dumping soil into it with an angry passion.  
  
Matt made his way over and to her side. "Takenouchi."  
  
She looked at him, eyes furrowed irritably and growled back, "What?"  
  
"I'm sorry, all right? I don't know why you're acting like this. It's just a bike."  
  
That comment caused Sora to slam the pot down, barely managing to break it. "Well, if it's just a bike, then why are you still here? After all," she continued, picking up the pot again. "It's just a bike," her words dripped with satire. "The bike that my father gave to me a week before he went on that cruise and disappeared at sea last year." Her scarlet eyes were cloudy and looking just a little wet.  
  
Matt fidgeted a little. If she starts crying, I'm outta here…he never knew how to deal with crying girls.  
  
Fortunately, or unfortunately, she didn't break down and start bawling, but instead, she rounded on him again. "So why are you still here?"  
  
"Aki and Tai bulldozed me into it. So will you forgive me now? I have places to go. Can we make a truce for now so I can get going?" He held out his hand. She narrowed her eyes at him. He shrugged. "I mean, I'm not really sorry about your bike, but I'm sorry about your father, though."  
  
She looked at him for a few seconds, eyes unreadable. All of a sudden, she took his hand.  
  
Matt recoiled and dropped her hand. Her hand was coated with soil. "Man!"  
  
Takenouchi arched her eyebrow, her eyes looking angry. "Ooh, little Rock Star is afraid of a little dirt? I'm sure that you wouldn't mind this then." She grabbed a pot full of soil and dumped it on his head.  
  
"What did you do that for?" Matt yelled, trying brush the loam off. "So much for a truce."  
  
"A truce," she informed him, "requires a hand shake, not a hand drop."  
  
Matt rolled his eyes. "That's it, I'm outta here." Brushing the dirt out of his blonde quills, he gave her a dark look and turned away.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"No, wait." Her hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm sorry about the soil. I act on impulse sometimes. It's one of my great failings." Her face held a look of disbelief. Why did she just say that? Apologize to him when it was he who was supposed to apologize? And why did she just tell him those things about her bike and her impulsiveness? She barely knew the guy. Shaking that aside, she continued, "I guess a truce would be nice. It would probably be tentative, but let's give it a shot."  
  
Matt looked at her, eyes searching, sighed and said, "Fine. I'm sorry Sora, and let's try not to kill each other before the year is out."  
  
Sora nodded and they shook hands. There was something in his eyes…a glint…his hands were tightening around a clod of soil…  
  
Drat.  
  
Yelping, she jumped backwards as he lunged at her with his fistful of soil. She ducked as he threw it at her head and blanched when his other hand dropped soil onto her hair. She stared at him murderously as he doubled over, laughing.  
  
"You look so funny!" he cried. She just silently, ominously waited for him to quiet down. As soon as he did, Matt hurried to say something before she could pound him into a pancake. "I'm sorry, Takenouchi, but I just had to even the score."  
  
Her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to glower at him. Then she burst out laughing. "You know that I'm going to have to get back at you for this."  
  
Matt grinned back. "I expect you to." He was a little unnerved to see her laugh again. "And then I'll get back at you for that."  
  
"Good."  
  
****  
  
It seems that our favorite couple has settled into a way of living…but will it last? Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...Or not. 


	13. Starts With An Interesting Truce Ends Wi...

I'm back!!! Well...actually, I think that I'm still me. But anyway, due to extreme laziness and lack of animation in creative literature writing, my story has been growing fungus for the past months. Or weeks. I forget. So to make it up, here's a chapter. Yay. I mean, YAY!!

****

Tai and Aki looked up from their dangerous game of dice as Sora and Matt stepped back into the main area of the flower shop. (A/N: Let's just say that Mrs. Takenouchi renovated her flower shop with the money she had gained shining shoes as a little girl. Right.) Tai leapt up happily. "Matt! Ah, come on! Let's get moving! I, uh, have to get home! Right now! Not a minute to lose! Or even a second!"

"What?" Matt asked, puzzled by his squeaking friend. "Where's the fire?"

"You're wasting my seconds!" Tai screeched. "Seconds are too precious to waste! Come on!"

"HEY!" Aki yelled. "You told me that there was nothing you needed to do for today. You just want to leave because you're losing your money!"

As Tai spluttered excuses, Aki looked at Sora and Matt. "Are you two all right now?" She wrinkled her nose. "What happened to your clothes? Did you two fall into a compost heap or something? Sora, we are *not* walking together on the way home."

Sora grinned. "We've found a way to keep the peace while continuing the war."

Aki arched her eyebrow. "Y'know...I won't even bother asking. Details bore me."

"That's all right. I wouldn't, either."

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

TK was glumly sprawled all over the bench. He and Davis had done nothing the entire day but argue about soccer and basketball. He had no real idea why he chose to hang out with his stubborn friend. The two of them were as different as day and night. Or a hamburger and a salad. Or maybe a bowl of sushi and some noodles.

He was hungry. (A/N: Obvious much?)

They were at the park. (A/N: The park again! Why is it that I always turn to the park for an ideal setting? ARGH!!) He learned that Kari and Yolei were spending the day together at the mall, thanks to Davis' endless badgering of Kari. They had absolutely nothing to do.

"Davis," TK stated.

"TS," Davis replied.

Letting out an explosive breath, TK asked him, "What exactly are we doing in the park?"

Davis shrugged. He was practicing with his soccer ball. "Well, we were just wandering around on the street and then somehow, we ended up in the park. I don't think that it's really important. That's what always seems to happen."

(A/N: That's because everywhere, instead of plotholes, there are...PARK HOLES!!! Step into them and WHOOSH!! You're in a park!)

They fell silent again and watched as people passed them, oblivious to their stares. Soft music drifted up to them. Davis stopped kicking around his soccer ball and paused. "Hey, TE. Do you hear that?"

TK rolled his eyes and nodded. "I think that it's pretty obvious that I could hear it, seeing that I know where it's coming from. Come on, let's check it out. Anything seems better than watching you kick that ball."

TK ignored his friend's protests as he stood up and made his way into the bushes. The music grew louder as they stumbled into a clearing.

"TK!" Someone exclaimed. "Davis! What are you guys doing here?"

"Kari?" TK and Davis yelped in unison. They looked to the girl next to her. "Yolei?" 

Kari was sitting on the grass with Yolei and some other boy they never had met before. The music had stopped by now and they saw the source of it was a violin. TK smiled at the boy. "Hey. I'm TK."

The dark-haired youth nodded. "My name is Ken."

Davis shook himself out of his amazement and rounded on the poor boy. "Are you trying to make a move on my girl?"

Ken looked puzzled. "What?"

Davis repeated, "I said that—"

He shook his head. "No, no, I heard you. It's just that…um…what are you talking about?"

Kari's face was red. "Davis, I am not your girl!"

The two of them started to argue. TK and Ken tried to make sense of things and attempted to stop their bickering. Pretty soon, Yolei had enough of it and held up her hands, yelling, "Shut up!"

The four of them paused and turned to the lavender-haired girl.

Yolei glared at them and said, "You guys are acting like a bunch of five-year olds. Let me lay things clear here: Ken, Davis Motomiya the idiot and TK Takaishi. TK, Davis, Ken Ichijouji."

Davis yelped, "Why am I the idiot? What about TB? Why doesn't he get called something equally insulting? Like, how about: the guy who has absolutely no chance with Kari?" (A/N: TB as in Tuberculosis?)

TK cocked his head, puzzled. "Insulting?" He shrugged. "Maybe to you, Davis, but I don't see anything insulting in that."

Kari's angelic face suddenly darkened. Yolei took one look at her friend and blanched. Hurriedly, before any bones were broken, she gestured to the two newcomers for them to sit down and said to Kari softly, "Calm down."

Kari looked startled. She glanced curiously at Yolei, who winked back to the younger girl. For some reason, she blushed.

TK watched this exchange as he settled down unto the grass and shrugged. He never understood girls, anyway. They were always so giggly and garrulous. Sure, Kari was his best friend, aside from Davis (who wasn't exactly a best friend all the time), but he never really understood her anyway. He decided to take his brother's advice and not bother to even try to understand them.

Davis began, "So, Kenny—"

"It's Ken," the other boy replied.

"What difference does it make?" Yolei laughed. "Davis doesn't even get TK's name right half the time."

"Yolei." Davis gave her a pained look. "It's not just half the time I get his name wrong. I get his name wrong eight days a week!" (A/N: Eight days a week…I lo-o-o-o-ove you. Beatles. Hehe.)

"Excuse me, then," the lavender-haired girl said in mock apology. "Davis is too dumb to get two letters imprinted on his brain. I'm sorry, I used to think you had the IQ of at least a dust mote."

"I will not stand here and be insulted!" Davis declared. "That's why I'll sit here and be insulted." He grinned and plopped himself unto the ground. "You know, eventually my brain will pop up somewhere and all of you will be very surprised to see how smart I am."

"It already has popped up, Davis, and we aren't fainting from shock, as far as I can see," Kari remarked.

"Kari!" Davis exclaimed, looking excited. "You said that I had a brain! You heard that TI? You don't know how long anyone's ever told me that I had a brain."

"How long ago was that?" Ken asked curiously, although with a cynical smile on his lips.

"Approximately eight years ago." He paused. "No…wait. The word wasn't brain. It was pain. Jun told me I was a pain." His eyes came up teary. "No one's ever told me that I had a brain before until you, Kari."

"We're very proud of you, Davis," Yolei said dryly.

"And as my first official words as a person with a brain," Davis announced, "I must declare my love for Kari."

Without really knowing why he did it, TK let out a laugh. He had no idea why he laughed at Davis' words, but they seemed to sound rather funny to him. He shrugged mentally and smiled good-naturedly.

Kari scowled at him. (A/N: Wrong move, bucko!) Hurriedly, Yolei headed this off, asking, "Davis. What were you about to say to Ken before the issue of your brain came up?" She paused. "That's not something you hear everyday."

"Well," Davis started. "I was just asking whether he is any good at playing the violin."

"I'm pretty good," Ken said, but Yolei cut in, exclaiming, "Any good? Ken's the best violin player I've ever heard!" 

Ken's cheeks were slightly pink as he stammered out: "N-not really. I've got a long way to go."

"So modest," the lavender-haired girl murmured fondly.

Ken sighed.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

The moon was beautiful tonight. The sky was empty of the clouds that usually obscured the moon and stars were glittering so brightly. The moon was full tonight, its face like a pale dish.

Chloris gave it one last wistful glance before crossing the street. She wouldn't see the moon on the other side. After all, it would be hidden behind the soaring skyscrapers of Odaiba. She had been requested by her mother to go and buy some groceries. That was why she was up at this ungodly hour.

As she stepped up onto the curb, she collided with someone running up from behind her. It was a little boy, all braces and acne, though. 

"Sorry, lady!" he called, not bothering to slow down. As he disappeared around the corner, Chloris muttered an oath under her breath and shook her head to clear it from the taunting feathered birds. "Little barbarian."

"People nowadays, huh?" a voice spoke out. She detected a hint of amusement in that remark and rolled her eyes. Glancing up, she saw someone familiar in front of her, holding out his hand. Her cheeks burned with humiliation. Ignoring his hand, she stood up and brushed herself off.

"And you are?" she questioned him.

"Chloris, I know we just met yesterday, but is it that hard for you to forget a face?"

His voice sounded familiar and she took a good long look at him. He had sleek brown hair and green eyes that were sparkling with suppressed mirth. _'The only people I met yesterday were that old fat grumpy lady and…'_

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "Eden, right? From Scotland?" (A/N: Cheese!)

"Um, begging your pardon but it's Aidan, Aidan Feoras from Ireland."

She shrugged. "All right. So, what brings you here? Eager to laugh at the untouchable Chloris Erato?" she stated bitterly. As Aidan started to answer quickly, she cut in and said, "Of course. Why else would you be here?"

"Chloris." He looked at her and she felt herself flush.

"I'm sorry. I was just…I don't know. I didn't mean that." She looked sheepishly at him. "I tend to mouth off whenever I'm embarrassed. Sorry."

"'Tis all right, I assure you." He grinned brilliantly at her. "I say a mouthful whenever that happens, too. It seems we both tend to go on and on, eh?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Yeah. So what do you want?"

He shrugged and shoved a hand through his hair. "Actually, I just saw you trip and thought that you might need some help."

Chloris' irritation and embarrassment faded away and she smiled back at him. "Oh. I guess one meeting isn't enough for me to judge a person nowadays. I thought that you were like your friends."

"They DO go out of their way to make you suffer, don't you think?" His eyes were thoughtful and his tone wasn't with malice. "I'm sorry about that. They don't consider others too much."

They fell silent. Chloris glanced at him and asked, "Why are you up so late? According to my watch, it's nearly ten."

He looked mildly surprised and glanced at his watch. "Why, it's that late already? I was just making my way home from the park. Lovely place, it is. We have one like it at home, only it's not as beautiful. I tell you, though, I miss the lush green hills like I miss Aunt Aggie's pie." He gave a little chuckle. "Which reminds me, I haven't had me dinner yet. Hmm. Curious."

Chloris laughed. "Why do you say that?"

He replied, "It's steak night. I rarely miss that."

She shrugged. "The night is beautiful. Not too dark but just dim enough to enjoy the stars." She murmured, "Darkness is not dark for you. The night is as the day..."

"Ah! And darkness and light are one!" Aidan exclaimed delightedly. "Psalm 139. I never really understood the significance of that line with the rest of the verse."

They continued to chat idly as they walked down the sidewalk. It turned out that their apartment buildings were in the same general direction, so they could keep each other company while they walked. Chloris certainly appreciated the extra help with her groceries.

They were crossing into another street when they came upon two figures arguing. Chloris thought that they both looked familiar. As they drew closer, she saw that they were Aki and Tai. A larger smile covered her face and she called out, "Aki! Tai! What are you guys doing up so late?"

They glanced up. "Chloris?" they exclaimed, their words in unison with their surprised expressions. They both simultaneously glanced to who was walking towards them beside her. "Aidan?"

"Top o' the…um…night?" Aidan looked puzzled. "That just doesn't sound right, I'm sorry."

Aki shrugged. "It's all right. So…what are you two doing out in the night?" Her eyelashes fluttered. "Alone?"

Chloris fought to keep the smile on her face and her feet from kicking out at her admittedly flighty friend. "Oh, Aidan and I just ran across each other across the grocery store and we live in the same street. What are YOU two doing out here?" Curiosity took much of the bite out of her question.

Her black-haired friend grinned. "Nothing. We just ran across each other, too."

Chloris and Aidan exchanged an exasperated glance. Aki and Tai sniggered. "So…" Tai glanced at the two foreigners. "What brings you two here? Did some strange little old man with no eyes at all mail you through your high-tech-looking beeper email computer thing to get you guys to come here?"

Aki rolled her eyes at this. "Gennai does NOT exist in the real world, Kamiya."

Tai shrugged. Then, it seemed as though it was his first as he took a look around him. "Hey…it's nighttime! What time is it?" Aki, too, looked startled as she took in her surroundings. She added, "And what ARE we doing here? Last I saw it, we were at Sora's mother's flower shop!"

"Well," Aidan's mild tone cut into their confused ramblings, "It's a good quarter past ten."

The other two blinked at him owlishly. Then Aki let out a laugh. "I guess time flies when you're biting someone's head off. Hmph. Wouldn't you know it? The old saying's right!" She looked amused.

Tai arched his eyebrow. "Doesn't it say, 'Time flies when you're having fun'?"

Aki shook her head sadly. "I can't see the difference."

"Figures _you wouldn't," Chloris muttered. (A/N: Heehee. Neither would I. Especially if it's little sister head.)_

"So what were you two arguing about in the middle 'o the night?" Aidan grinned.

Aki shrugged. "You know Sora and Matt hate each other's guts, right?" Chloris and Aidan nodded. "Well," Aki continued, "Just a few hours ago, I think their war settled into something like that of a truce. I'm not certain on what the details are, but I'm positive that it won't last."

"I think it would!" Tai protested. "You can see that they're very smart people."

"Smart, but unstable."

"It will last."

"No it won't."

"Wanna bet?"

"It's a deal."

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

Before anyone knew it, it was Thursday. People groaned and sighed as they went back to school from their prolonged 'weekend'. (A/N: *Sighs* And happiness comes to a close. There will be other times but this story has come to an end.) Things were much tamer during classes now that the fanatics realized that if they continued going over the top, they wouldn't be able to see their idols anymore. At least, if Principal Suzuki continued the trend of suspending classes whenever they rioted.

(A/N: Hmm...note to self: Find insane fanatics and enroll them in school.)

It was lunchtime. (A/N: AGAIN!)

Looking around, Sora found her friends seated at their usual table, along with several other new additions. There was Aki, Shina and Chloris, but Izzy was sitting there, too. Aidan was talking with Chloris.

The line to get food was much longer than usual, so Sora was glad that she had the foresight to bring her own lunch. She made her way past the tables to the one where her friends sat. 

 "Hey, Sora," Aki greeted her as she opened her lunch bag. "You were smart to bring lunch. It's blue day. What kind of food is colored *blue*?" She paused. "Aside from blueberries, of course. And they're not even *that* blue."

Sora smiled as she unwrapped her sandwich. A brief thought lingered in her mind and she wondered where Mimi was.

"Hey, Aki, where's Mimi?" she asked her friend.

Aki's face grew still. "Mimi's not sitting with us today, Sora. She's sitting with *them*."

Wondering what Aki meant, she looked around. Her gaze swept the cafeteria and she saw Mimi, sitting down at the cheerleader's table and chattering animatedly with the head cheerleader. Her heart sank. Mimi was her friend. She would probably forget that they existed in a few weeks.

Trying to appear cheerful, Sora shrugged and said, "Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles, as the Americans say." She sighed. "We had some good times, though."

Aki nodded solemnly. "And now the evil snares of popularity have enslaved our friend. The next time she will talk to us, all we'll be seeing is her nose."

"What do you mean?" Chloris asked.

Aki replied, "She'll be looking down her nose at us and that involves a very large nose."

"That's not very nice," Sora murmured, glancing again to where Mimi conversed with the airheads. Taking a bite out of her sandwich, she thought gloomy thoughts and smiled a sad smile.

"Hey." Everyone looked up to see Matt sitting down with his tray next to Sora.

"Matt?" Shina said incredulously.

Matt nodded. "Who'd you expect? The Cat in the Hat?" (A/N: The cat in the hat in the hat in the hat in the hat!) He grinned at Sora. "Well?"

Sora gaped at him silently. Then she exploded, "It's not fair! Why are *you* still here? Mimi's gone off to enjoy the social life so why haven't *you*? I *like* Mimi!" she almost wailed.

"Why, Takenouchi, I'm touched, but you're not getting rid of me *that* easily. Besides, we still have our war to wage, my precious little pipsqueak." Matt laughed and glanced at his food. "Ew." He added, "By the way, Meems hasn't forgotten you guys, just in case you're worried. She had no choice but to talk to those airheads. Besides, you'll notice that she's sitting with them for a different reason." He indicated the table next to theirs with his fork.

It was the studious group's table. Most of them were done eating and delving into their books. Sora then noticed that Joe Kido was seated there, reading a textbook intently.

They looked back at Matt. "JOE?" they all chorused skeptically. Matt nodded, looking satisfied. "Yes. Joe."

After giving a moment's thought, Aidan shrugged. "Well, it's her life, right?" Everyone nodded and resumed eating.

Matt eyed Sora's sandwich enviously. Sora noticed this and stuck her tongue out at him. "It's mine, so don't you even think about trading my lunch for yours." She glared at him for extra emphasis and continued eating.

"MAAAATT!" A sweet voice drawled out. Sora was suddenly pushed aside and she fell onto the floor as some girl took her seat. "What are you sitting with *these* people for? They're totally *not*. Well, anyway. We're still on for tonight, aren't we?"

Sora blinked and tried to get her head back on straight. Chloris and Aki helped her up. Matt gave Sora a single glance and turned back to the pretty girl who replaced his seatmate, flashing her a thrilling smile. "Of course."

"Good," the girl giggled. "I'll be there…honey bun." (A/N: Snicker.) She got up and kissed Matt's cheek and sashayed away.

Sora goggled at Matt. "Honey bun?" Matt shrugged and Sora burst into laughter. "Honey bun!" She laughed some more. "That's a good one." She became serious again. "Jerk," she snapped and stomped away. She paused and threw her balled-up sandwich wrapper at him, hitting him square in the head.

Tai, who was just sitting down to talk with them, laughed and said, "Forget soccer. That girl could make it good at baseball."

****

So...how was it? I like Tai's side comments. Dice rules.


	14. Starts With Mysterious Relationships End...

I don't know whether you would consider this a long chapter, but it has many parts, for some reason... I HAVE UPLOADED!!!

****

The soccer tryouts.

Ken swallowed; he was nervous. He wanted to make the team. It was probably the only way he could get her to…

'No', he told himself. 'Don't think about her. Just focus on making the team.' He tried to think about everything Taichi Kamiya had taught him. How to kick the ball better, how to make a good pass… he was grateful to him for helping him out. But he couldn't remember anything else.

He sighed. 

He couldn't concentrate. Once more, he wondered why he was doing all this. He was already a musician *and* a genius. Why did he bother trying to prove himself even more? 

And once more, he mentally kicked himself. He was doing it for *her*.

He had heard her talking with her friends one time in school. No one ever noticed him, even though he was probably more famous than all of them combined. He was just some quiet kid who could play instruments and beat everyone in chess and intellectual competitions. 

He wasn't exactly eavesdropping on purpose, but he was just watching her. He admired her spirit and found himself falling in love with her, even if she *was* a year older than he was. Even if she probably wouldn't even spare him a single glance.

No wonder he was here. 

'They say that love's irrational,' he thought grimly. 'I'm probably insane now.'

He remembered her conversation clearly. It was, after all, the reason why he was here, trying in vain to make it into the team. She was raving about jocks. He knew right then that she would only pay attention to him if he played a sport of some sort (A/N: *Snort* Hehe. No retort, my fellow cohorts.)

He looked around. There were many people sitting in the grandstands, watching the people trying out for the soccer team. There was an old man wearing some ancient-looking soccer jersey jumping up and down, yelling loudly. He glanced toward the edges. There was an older boy falling down the bleachers, watched by a smirking redheaded girl. 

Very interesting, but where was she?

His eyes scanned the bleachers. There she was, sitting with her friends on the bleachers, watching the tryouts. 

It was Yolei. Was she there to watch him? She knew that he was trying out for the team. He caught himself staring at her and blushed, even though she didn't know he existed until that Tuesday. And *that* was just a coincidence.

He had been practicing his sonnets for an upcoming recital when they stumbled upon him in his secret little hiding place. He hadn't noticed they were there until he finished playing his music. 

That's when they started clapping. When he realized that it was Yolei who was clapping for him, he nearly exploded with happiness and fear. (A/N: BOOM!!!) Did she like his music? Or was she just mocking him?

Once he got to know her and her friends, he realized that they were a good group. How could he fit in with them? He was lonely. But they accepted him right then and there and even offered to invite him to join them when they would go to the mall.

He was happy that he finally had friends, but he was even happier that he could be closer to Yolei Inoue.

He glanced her way again and she stood up and waved at him. He grinned at her and waved back.

"You can do it, Ken!" she yelled.

His cheeks reddened slightly and he smiled. So she really did want him to make the team. That was good.

"Ichijouji!" the coach yelled, blowing her whistle. "Wake up, boy!"

He jerked up, startled. He looked around wildly. The coach was gesturing to him.

It was time.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

Mimi sighed inwardly. She was glad the day was over for her. She couldn't bear listening to the cheerleaders' mindless chatter, but she was in love. Never mind that he was two or so years older than she was.

She hoped that her friends weren't mad at her for not eating with them during lunch and fervently hoped that Matt had remembered to tell them why she wasn't eating with them. He tended to forget things that weren't about himself. Joe was for her, she was convinced. The minute she saw him, she was immediately in love.

As of yet, though, none of her baiting attempts (A/N: That sounds a little too cruel…) had succeeded in drawing his attention away from his book. She had done her best to attract his eye, but he was too involved in whatever he was reading.

She sighed. Was there anything she could do to get him to talk to her?

Mimi was sitting down at a table in the library, a few tables away from Joe's, holding a book in front of her. She wasn't reading anything, really. Why would she want to learn about the physics of a tissue roll?

She sighed again as she watched him paging patiently through a thick book. He was holding his spectacles a little closer to the page as he peered through them. His light blue hair moved slightly as he continued to turn pages.

She decided not to despair too much. She should appreciate this rare moment of peace. None of her fans were harassing her, as of the moment. She should be grateful for this little silence. She hadn't had that many during school hours.

The girl flipped her curls over her shoulder and crossed her arms on the table, leaning her head on them and closing her eyes. 

_How to get Joe to notice her..._

Mimi was suddenly interrupted from her scheming when someone cleared his throat behind her. Hardly daring to hope that it was Joe, she turned around slowly. It was Tai. He grinned at her at took a seat across her.

"Hey, Mimi," he said. "What are you doing here reading about," he glanced at her book, "the physics of *tissue paper*?" He gave her an incredulous look. "I know you're trying to hook Joe but this is ridiculous—"

Mimi reached over the table and hurriedly clapped her hand over his mouth. She looked around and saw that Joe had looked up. He was looking at her! She gave him a smile and he nodded. He pushed back his chair—

And took another book out of his backpack which was by his chair on the floor.

Mimi's heart sank and she sighed. Tai saw what she was looking at and mouthed sheepishly, 'I'm sorry.'

"It's all right, Tai." She let out her breath. "In three seconds, you managed to do something I've been trying to do for hours here."

"What's that?"

"You managed to get Joe to look up from his book and actually glance at me," Mimi answered.

"But then," Tai said reasonably, "he probably thinks you're an immature student, goofing off with me in the library. He's one of *those* types, but he's a cool dude. When he's not reading, that is. But don't worry. He could just classify us as children instead of immature. Although I like immature better."

"Thank you for that little idea, Tai," Mimi said dryly. "Another thing to add to my list of mistakes so far. And the list keeps growing…"

"Anything I can do to help?" Tai asked eagerly.

She laughed. "Tai, No matter how much I want to hurt you right now, at least you got me laughing."

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

Shina sat down at her computer, happily hacking away at the system files of a major oil distribution company. She wouldn't normally be doing this—OK, she might have, since hacking was one of her favorite hobbies—if it were not for Sora.

It was a promise she had made to her friend a long time ago, a few years back. The oil spill really caused her friend some concern because Sora loved the beach more than anything, except maybe for her little parrot named Biyo and her pet iguana.

She squinted through her glasses at the screen.

Well, well, well…

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

Was it a dream? Ken was still in shock.

Did he really make it into the team? Was he really celebrating with his new friends in the pizza parlor? Was Yolei actually *hugging* him?

He looked around. No. It was no dream. He really was in the team. He really was celebrating with Yolei, Davis, TK and Kari at the pizza parlor. And yes, Yolei really *was* hugging him.

He felt a little dizzy, but he was thrilled. 

Ken smiled grandly at his friends. They were all chatting with each other about the tryouts and often glancing at him with happiness, Yolei most of all. _'Did that mean anything?' he wondered, but he decided not to hope._

After all, he was her friend now. He would have plenty of time to figure out her feelings.

Smiling once more to the purple-haired beauty at his side, he picked out a pizza slice and took a bite. He recoiled and glanced back at the slice he had taken and made a face.

_Green peppers…_

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

It was Friday.

Izzy walked quickly down the street, feeling extremely excited. It was Friday! FRIDAY! 

Sure, it was rather depressing that school would be out for the next two weeks, but it was Friday! It was the day the Digimon marathon was starting! He did a little jig, drawing some concerned looks from by-passers. 

"Izzy? What are you doing?"

He stopped in mid-trot, turning to see a puzzled Shina and a laughing Tai.

Tai remarked, "I think he's trying to dislocate his hips. It definitely isn't dancing."

"For your lack of information," Izzy scoffed, "it is. I *am* dancing. It is a certain form of the formalized foxtrot. Of course, I wouldn't expect you to know. Your head is too full of Chopin. You wouldn't know."

Tai looked offended but Shina spoke up, "That's because you made it up. All forms of the foxtrot do not involve any spastic hopping." Shina grinned. "Anyway, why are you dancing, then?"

"The Digimon Marathon..." He laughed happily and happened to glance at his watch. He suddenly turned pale. "…is starting right NOW!"

Shina looked bowled over. "TODAY?!?" she shrieked. "It's today???"

Izzy nodded.

"NOW?!?"

Izzy bobbed his head.

BBBBVVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!!!!

Tai, who had been left behind, scratched his head after he finished coughing up the dust the had left behind. "…Strange."

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

Chloris looked up from her book and stared out the window and into the sky. The stars laughed in their indifference, winking at her and dancing fiercely. She smiled and set down her novel.

Chloris Erato loved the stars, the skies and the heavenly bodies. As a young child in Greece, she and her parents had gone stargazing so often that Chloris could map the heavens without hesitation, stars, planets and all. The sky, though she could not reach it, was her haven. Her place of sanctuary from all the world.

But when her mother died, her father could no longer stand to continue the very activity which had brought him and his wife together in a romantic love story Chloris had heard countless times and still enjoyed hearing. So Chloris, who, on the other hand, could not bear to abandon her nightly watching of the skies, carried on with her favorite pastime. Alone.

She was suddenly startled from her reverie by the sound of a phone ringing in the living room. She looked around, dazed for a moment, then regained her senses and scrambled to get the phone in the living room.

When she picked it up, she heard Aki's voice muttering something inaudibly and said with some puzzlement, "Aki?"

"Chloris!" Aki exclaimed delightedly. "How are you?"

Chloris blinked. "You call me at 10:30 to inquire after my health," she stated, not knowing what to make of her friend's call.

"Can't I be concerned?" Aki retorted, but before Chloris could make her brilliant reply, Aki continued a bit ruefully, "Uh, never mind. Forget I asked. Now, down to the point. What do you think of Sora nowadays?"

After a few moments, Chloris glanced warily at the phone. "Aki."

"Yes?"

"Why?"

"Just tell me!" Aki yelled.

Chloris rolled her eyes. "Well, it has been pretty much a trial to keep my head on with her whenever Matt is around. It's like someone flipped the immature switch that I knew was hidden somewhere in her."

"Yes…" Aki mused. Then, "And that person is Matt…think she likes him?"

"AKI!" a voice yelled angrily. Chloris blinked in surprise. There seemed to be someone else on the phone, though this person didn't enter the conversation until now. Someone who suspiciously enough sounded like…

"Sora?" Chloris exclaimed incredulously. "Are you over at Aki's with an extension phone?"

"You blew it, Sora!" Aki complained, sounding a little whiny. She then said to Chloris, "Three-way phone line. We got it installed yesterday, for some obscure reason. It's been a blast."

"So what was the point of calling me?" Chloris inquired, barely managing to keep her voice level. She wondered if there was any way to kill people through the other end of the line.

"Sora and I had been arguing over the phone," Aki answered. "We were talking about school first, though."

Sora cut in, "Then you *had* to mention the obnoxious idiot—"

"Matt?" Aki questioned. "No, he's not an idiot. Time and time again he stumps you in your myriad arguments. Definitely no idiot. But then, yes, I believe that he's obnoxious, but not as obnoxious as you make him out to be."

"Sora," Chloris announced. "If you will think straight, you'll realize that your vehement protests don't really match with the facts. Matt's not that bad, if you just give him the chance."

"Which she is _so not going to do," Aki muttered._

"He is so!" Sora insisted. "If Ishida isn't really that bad, then why did he blow his bubblegum all over my hair today? I had to go and have my hair cut shorter at the barbershop!" 

Aki sighed. "That's because you switched the ink in his pens and got him in trouble with the history professor in front of the whole class. Besides," she added. "I like your new hairstyle. Very chic."

"But it's so short!" she wailed. "It hardly goes past my chin now! I liked my hair before."

"You look a lot prettier, Sora," Chloris assured her. "You could say that Matt did you a favor when he caused his gum to explode in your hair." She laughed. "It's a good thing that you switched his ink, then."

"Hey!" she protested. "I only did that because he tripped me into the fountain yesterday."

"Only because you sent him flying face first into a lunch tray," Aki reminded her.

"He jammed my locker first," Sora interjected.

Chloris noted, "And before he jammed your locker, you managed to knock him down the grandstands at during the soccer tryouts." She paused. "How did you do that? You were nowhere near him at that time."

Sora laughed mysteriously. "We redheads never reveal our secrets." She added rather pointedly, "Others, though, never seem to hesitate to tell them for us, so we don't really need to tell."

Aki's predictable cough even managed to sound slightly guilty.

"Besides," continued Sora. "I only flipped him down because he did the same to me."

Chloris frowned. "I don't remember him knocking you down any bleachers. What do you mean, Sora?"

Sora then responded, "Remember lunchtime a few days ago? I got knocked out of my seat when that bimbo of his went to our table. I've still got the bruises to prove it."

"I'm certain Matt still has his own bruises for remembrance. But *she* was actually the one who shoved you out of your seat, Sora, not Matt," Aki objected.

Chloris mused, "I wonder, though. How did _she do that to you, Sora? I barely saw anything. And she isn't a redhead."_

"Hey," Aki said. "I didn't see that girl with Matt today."

"Yes," concurred Chloris. "She wasn't with him anymore. I saw her, though. She was telling her friends that they broke up but she didn't seem to mind that much. She seemed euphoric."

"Ha!" exclaimed Sora. "She probably found out what a jerk he was and is now glad to be rid of him!" She laughed. "And here I was, thinking that all the important things in her life were fluff, bunnies, idols and looks. Maybe she _does have a brain, after all."_

Aki disagreed. "No. But I get the rumors now."

"Rumors?" Sora inquired. "I haven't heard any."

"That's because your head's always up in the clouds," Aki replied. "The word is that Bimbo was too thrilled to be dating the rock star that she didn't care that he broke up with her. She's got it forever engraved upon her fluffy little heard that she was the first girl he asked out from Odaiba High School."

Sora remarked, "Fascinating how petty some people's lives can be."

"Indeed," Chloris noted. "How they fill their lives with useless things such as revenge is a pretty good example of pathetic living, right Sora?"

"Definitely—hey!" Sora protested. "Are you talking about me?"

"Is anyone else here bent on revenge so useless it's pitiful to talk about it?" Aki asked. "You know, playing juvenile tricks on other people in an endless and repetitive cycle. That kind of thing."

"Endless, I can understand. But _repetitive?" Sora screeched._

"Well, the two of you *have* been creative," Chloris admitted. "But will you ever end this war? It will get old very soon."

"For you, maybe," Sora retorted. "But I take great pleasure in seeing the dumb blonde windbag being knocked down a few pegs, even if he will be getting back at me with another trick. And when he does, it's an excuse for me to express my creativity. It's all very entertaining."

"She's hopeless, isn't she?" observed Aki.

Chloris sighed. "Please, Sora. End it soon and resolve your differences with him. We all want a little peace and quiet without having to worry if whatever we do will be turned into a prank. Why don't you grant us just that?"

"I'd like to grant him peace, too," Sora grated. "Eternal peace. Maybe I'd help him along and ask him to see what the inside of a plugged blender looks like up close. Then I'd accidentally turn it on and slam the lid down on his head. Maybe. But right now, I need to go. My mother's calling me. See you soon."

And with that said, Sora hung up without letting them get in another word. Of course, her leaving meant that she left Chloris and Aki to freely discuss more things on the phone.

"It chills my spine to hear how coolly she plans to get rid of Matt," Aki said, shuddering. "Ugh."

"She won't listen to us, would she?" Chloris murmured.

Aki grunted noncommittally. "She's a redhead. What do you expect? She's got a stubborn streak in her a mile wide. Wait…are we certain that she hung up? This three-way think could go both ways. Like a road. Sora? You here…? Hmph. She wouldn't answer if she was still here, anyway. She's too smart for that. She'd wait for us to spill something for blackmail."

Chloris laughed. "That's our Sora, all right." She grew serious again. "Aki, what are we going to do about the two of them? Matt and Sora are our friends. There must be something we can do to stop them from fighting all the time."

Aki said hopefully, "Maybe they'll stop. Maybe it'll blow over with time."

Chloris shook her head though she knew Aki couldn't see her. "No." She then laughed ruefully. "Definitely not. Knowing Sora, she'd probably stick with this to the very end."

"You're right." Aki sounded glum. "I wonder. Is it only she who is mad at Matt? I mean, is Matt angry at her, too?"

Chloris said, "I don't think that he's mad at her, exactly. More like he thinks she's way below him because she won't worship the ground he walks on. But I think that he doesn't mind her as much. You say that he tried to apologize to her when he took her bike. That should count for something."

"Nah," Aki disagreed. "Tai told me a little about his conversation with Matt. Matt only did it because Sora would probably kill him the next time they meet. Their philosophy was probably, 'Say sorry now and the punishment later will be less.'"

"I haven't heard that saying yet," Chloris mused. "Did you make that up?"

"Yeah. Sounds profound, huh?"

Chloris nodded. "Definitely. It sounds wise. Which is why I think that you didn't create this little saying. Nothing that smart and deep ever comes out from a teenager, especially you."

"Chloris! You wound me!"

"Certainly."

"So what now?" Aki's voice suddenly sounded slightly sneaky. "Hey Chloris. Do you think that Matt likes Sora? Or is it that Sora likes Matt? Hmm…the possibilities are endless…"

Chloris laughed. "Do _not venture down that way of thinking, Aki. You may not make it out alive. Who knows what kinds of barbs may be hidden in each step? Besides, if they __could like each other, they'd kill each other way before they could discover that."_

"So what now?" Suddenly Aki gasped. "I got it! Matt!"

"Huh?"

"Sora's completely convinced that Matt's a complete jerk, right?" Aki said excitedly.

Chloris nodded, beginning to understand what Aki was driving at. "Yes. And if Matt manages to somehow prove that he's not so bad…" she trailed off.

"Exactly."

"…Then what?"

"How should I know?" Aki's voice asked edgily. "I was planning to leave that part to you. I mean, _I was supposed to tell __you the entire plan, then __you were supposed to tell __me what would happen next."_

Chloris could only laugh.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

The weekend seemed to pass within seconds and before he knew it, Matt was back in school, keeping a wary lookout for rabid fans. It was currently lunchtime and he was sitting down in the library, reading. He had finished lunch early in an attempt to evade any of his admirers—he enjoyed their attention, but right now, he was more concerned with an essay he neglected to make during the weekend for a certain Biology teacher.

Matt looked at the book and slightly pushed his reading glasses higher. (A/N: Hehe. Matt with glasses. Didn't see that one coming. I think it'd look rather cool, though.) He hurriedly scribbled the last few phrases on his essay paper and slammed the book cover down, feeling rather satisfied. Against all the odds, he had finished his essay! (Of course, the mark he'd get wasn't probably going to be as satisfactory as this…)

He glanced at his watch—he still had a lot of time left before he would have to return to class—and smiled. _Fifteen minutes to myself, he thought grinning. He leaned his chin against his hand and closed his eyes, enjoying the peace._

_Ah…_

"Hey, Matt's wearing glasses!"

His eyes shot open and saw Aki and Chloris sitting down at his table. He groaned, "Not you," and looked around for the redhead.

Aki grinned cheekily at him. "No, Sora's not here, she busy arguing with Shina and Izzy back at the cafeteria, and by the way, I really love the way you greeted us—must be a famous personality thing."

Matt rolled his eyes and took off his glasses. "What do you want? If all you wanted to do is to break the perfect reverie I was having and tick me off, you did it, rather well, I might add. So you can go now."

Chloris bowed slightly. "We are accomplished at that sort of thing, but really, we don't want to do that. All we want to do is ask for a favor from you. As a friend to another friend. That's all. We're sorry to interrupt you. 'It is not bad for men to reflect, and acting too quickly can lead one astray." She smiled cheerfully. "Proverbs 19:3. Such a true, true saying."

Matt stared at her. "You're strange."

Aki hauled him up. "And you're coming with us."

"What?"

"We can't talk in the library." She suddenly let out an evil laugh. "This talk may get a little messy…"

****

Isn't it simply glorious to place characters in uncomfortable situations?


	15. Starts With A Doubtful Plot Ends with Ne...

Story. Here. Now. Read.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          

Sora walked into the classroom and carefully sat on her customary seat. There seemed to be no booby traps here… she narrowed her eyes. So far, today, there wasn't any sign of a prank and it was Matt's turn for retaliation for her latest…display. Warily, she glanced around. 

There he was. Sitting at his table being surrounded by his fans. She scowled at one of them who was attempting to sit down and test the law of impenetrability. She didn't seem to be from their class…it was Jun Motomiya.

With a little huff, she looked away and found herself being stared at by Aki and Chloris. They seemed to be watching for something. She arched her eyebrow. "What are you two looking at?"

"You, actually," Chloris said casually. "It seems that you are bothered by the torture Matt's going through."

"Torture?" Sora snorted. "Look at him. He's enjoying it."

Aki shrugged. "The point is that you're bothered. Could it be that you're finally turning human?"

Sora stood up angrily, causing her chair to screech and slide backwards. She scowled at them and slapped her palms on her table, growling, "What are you getting at, Aki dearest?"

"Any problem girls?" Taichi slid into the seat next to Aki.

"For your information," Sora snapped, ignoring their big-haired friend, "I was just abhorred by the girls' shameless display of idolization for someone most definitely *not* suitable for being the center of idolatry."

"Huh?" Tai looked confused. "What are you girls talking about?"

"Let it slide, Tai," Aki said to him, patting his shoulder. "Let it slide."

Tai shrugged. "Anyway, I passed by the bulletin board today and saw that old poster advertisement for the astronomy convention next Saturday." His eyes grew slightly starry. "They will be serving free food…Are any of you going? I'm definitely in."

Sora shrugged, sinking back into her seat. Chloris nodded, smiling cheerfully. "I've never been to an astronomy convention before, even in Greece. I heard that they are interesting to go to."

"Not really," Tai admitted. "The speeches and theories get really boring. We had one last year and I fell asleep as soon as they started greeting us. It takes a really long time for them to begin the stargazing. They didn't serve free food, either. I was really bored."

"That's because you have the attention span of a dead rat," Aki quipped, laughing gleefully. Tai glared at her.

Chloris questioned Tai. "So why are you going then?"

"I'm in it for the food."

She glanced at Aki. "What about you, Aki? Are you going?"

"I probably have to," she said, shrugging.

"What do you mean?"

Aki was about to reply when the teacher of Biology class walked in. Her name was Ms. Kei and Sora rather liked her. She was a good teacher, although she sometimes demanded too much from them. Ms. Kei was very vehement on her environmental points of view. "Good afternoon, students. I want all of you over there by Mr. Ishida's desk to return to your seats."

They didn't seem to pay attention to the teacher.

"GIRLS!!!" Ms. Kei's voice boomed. The girls, after emitting little girly gasps, suddenly vanished. Ms. Kei let out a few choice swear words and stomped off behind her desk.

Ms. Kei was also very assertive and stood for no messing around. 

It was rather admirable, actually. The Biology teacher looked like a very dainty woman and her voice, when speaking normally, was light and feminine, but when she yelled, it was as if the ghost of a dead evil sergeant had taken over. (A/N: Remind you of anyone? ^_^)

Sora chuckled and watched as Ms. Kei took the role call. Soon after, she passed her essay on environmental rights along with everyone else. Ms. Kei then began her lecture. Sora listened avidly. Admittedly, Biology was one of her favorite subjects. They were frequently sidetracked from cells and evolution by current environmental news, most of which caused Sora a number of emotions. (A/N: I won't be boring you with the details. None of us want school at the moment…at least, I _hope none of us want school at the moment. Otherwise would be too freaky.)_

The day went on…

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

TK walked down the nearly empty halls, smiling happily. Today was a pretty good day, for a school day. (A/N: ARGH!! Too many 'day's!)

His class had a free period for this day because their Math teacher was currently out of commission—it appeared that she had taken one too many lunches at the cafeteria lady's hands…

He wondered how his friends were doing, still stuck in their classrooms. TK was the only one of their close friends who was given a free period. 

When he reached his locker, he opened it and began to pile his books in. As he tidied it up, his eye caught sight of a picture of him and Kari that was stuck to the wall of his locker. If his memory served him correct—though it usually didn't, if his grades in Biology were to attest to this—the picture was taken more than a few years ago. There was another more recent picture of the two of them, though. They were sitting down on the sandy beach, holding hands and grinning at the camera.

He smiled cheerfully and continued to arrange his locker in a more systematic way. It seems that it had the tendency to mess itself up consciously, since TK always kept his locker tidy.

He paused. What was this? He picked up a orange striped polka-dotted sock. _I don't own this…_He glanced at his locker warily.

"Hey, TK!" someone yelled.

TK hurriedly stashed the sock back into the locker and turned around for a few moments and saw Ryube Nokito striding toward him, backed up by a few of his friends. Ryube was a jock who always seemed to yell whenever being talked to in an otherwise normal conversation. He smiled a little hesitantly and nodded. "Hey, Ryube."

"I'd like to talk to you, Takaishi," the fellow said loudly.

"Oh?" TK kept his face carefully neutral and hoped that his ears would last him the day at least. "What for? Is there anything wrong?"

Inside, TK wondered what Ryube wanted to talk to him for. He didn't remember talking to Ryube for the past few weeks. He didn't even recall _meeting with Ryube. Until now, that is._

Ryube glared at him slightly. "My girlfriend thinks you're hot."

TK looked puzzled. Was this how Ryube normally began conversations or was it supposed to mean something. "Is that good?"

 "Hell, no!" Ryube yelled. But then again, he might have just said it, since Ryube seemed to be born with a megaphone built into his vocal cords. "She's MY girlfriend and you'd better stay away from her. Stick to your own." He growled and banged his fist against TK's locker, causing all his things to fall out of order again. TK winced. He'd have to do it all over again…

Luckily, the strange sock managed to stay out of sight, therefore TK was spared (for the moment) from his peers' merciless avoidance. Who would wear a sock like that? (A/N: Uh…*coughs*)

"My own what?" (A/N: OK, so I'm making TK kinda clueless, but I think it's rather charming. ü) 

He pointed to the picture of him and Kari. "Stick to your own girlfriend, Takaishi."

TK's cheeks reddened as it dawned on him and he protested, "She's not my girlfriend, Ryube. She's just my best friend."

The larger youth snorted. "Yeah, right. I've seen the two of you."

Ryube's friend grinned and leered at the picture. "She's pretty cute. If you won't have her, would you mind giving her to me? She'll still be your best friend, you know. She'll be my girlfriend, though."

TK glared at him. "I'd like it a lot better if you didn't."

"Yeah," Ryube growled to his lackey. "If you did, my girlfriend would have a reason to see TK more often, and we don't want _that, do we?" He pounded his fist against TK's locker again, causing a few books to fall out. The sock dangled out precariously, standing out against the dark green of his locker._

TK didn't notice though. People thought that Kari and he were _dating??? He didn't know why, but the idea of it seemed different but not too strange to him. Kari and he were close and all, but they never went out. But he did kind of love her…_

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. (A/N: Like an Etch-a-Sketch!) He and Kari had been labeled as 'together' before, so why did he have these kinds of thoughts? There was no difference from there to now.

He sighed. Ryube and his lackey were tussling with each other at the moment. "If you two will excuse me, I've got to get going now." He closed his locker and spun the lock—he'd neaten it up the next chance he'd get. Right now would be too risky.

"It was nice talking to you two," he said to the fighting pair of students. "Se you some other time…"

TK hurriedly walked away, wondering where he would go next. The cafeteria was closed at the moment, but he didn't really want to go there, come to think of it. He didn't want to see the lunch ladies in their daily cooking activities, perhaps blending opossum carcasses with berry juice.

…

But taking their school lunch ladies into consideration, it probably wouldn't even be berry juice. Most likely something they'd fished out of the sewer.

TK wandered the school halls. As he was strolling by the auditorium, he heard beautiful music wafting through the air. It sounded slightly familiar, though TK couldn't put his finger to it. It didn't sound like Kari's brother's music, although TK felt that he had heard this music before. His curiosity overcame him and he opened the auditorium door.

Walking inside, he saw a solitary violinist standing alone on the stage, fluidly bowing the strings as the tune's tempo escalated. It was Ken Ichijouji, the fellow who they all had become particularly close to due to Yolei's persistent nagging. TK didn't know the whole story, but he got the gist of it.

Yolei had seen him somewhere and, as usual, was smitten and completely taken over. She wasn't deterred by the fact that he was probably a million points smarter than she was, although Yolei was rather intellectual when she wasn't obsessing over anything. TK had the feeling that Yolei and Kari's 'chance' meeting with the raven-haired musician wasn't as chancy as people would've thought.

The music ended and TK was pulled out of his reverie. He smiled at the startled Ken. "Hey, Ken."

Ken regained his composure and easily leaped off the stage. "Hey, TK. What are you doing here?"

TK shrugged. "Actually, I don't really know. Our math teacher's out, so we were given a free period to run around and ruin the campus. So far, though, I haven't been feeling any destructive urges, contrary to popular beliefs about adolescents. I must be some sort of freak of nature."

Ken laughed. "You and I both. Although I have a feeling that I'm wearing away my violin at the moment."

"So what are *you* doing here?" TK then asked him. "Other than sawing away at your violin. You don't have a free period with me, I think."

Ken nodded his head in acquiescence. "I was given this period to practice my violin for the recital we're having next month."

"Next month? But that's so far away…"

"Apparently not for the music teacher," Ken remarked. "Anyway, is anyone else out already?"

TK could tell by the light in his eyes that he meant Yolei. TK grinned inwardly. It appeared that Ken also felt something for Yolei. "No, no one else is out. But then I wouldn't know. She's a year older than us."

He turned bright pink. "Wh-what do you mean? I'm talking about the others—you know, Kari and Davis."

TK laughed softly. Ken was OK. "They're still in Science."

Ken smiled slightly at that. "May I ask why Davis always seems to be hanging around her so eagerly?"

TK shrugged. "He likes her a lot."

The musician mused, "She doesn't seem to return the affection that way. But doesn't it bother you?"

TK was startled. "What?" he exclaimed. "Bother me? What do you mean? Why should it bother me? It's their lives, not mine. They're just my friends. They can spend all their time like that if they like."

Ken looked at him for a few minutes in silence and shrugged. "Just wondering."

The auditorium door opened and a woman popped her head in. "Mr. Ichijouji, I do not hear your violin singing out in its lovely voice! You will have your pieces ready by next week." She nodded to TK and popped back out as quickly as she had popped in. TK then realized that it was the music teacher.

"Well, I've got to get back to rehearsing." Ken sighed. "My hands feel like they're falling off, though. I've been here since lunchtime." 

TK grinned. "I've got glue in my bag," he offered. "I think that if you put enough, they'll last you through the day. Maybe they'll last until after the Social Sciences teacher's exams, if you're lucky…in a way." (A/N: Whatever works, right?)

Ken laughed and began to walk back to the stage. "I think I could manage to bear the anguish of missing an exam. Bye, TK."

TK replied, "Bye, Ken."

As he walked past the aisles to the door out, TK wondered what Ken had been talking about. Certainly, Davis' attitude towards Kari was odd and sometimes slightly irritating, but why did Ken believe that he should have been bothered by it? Davis had been crazy about Kari for such a long time and Kari had been unresponsive for just as long that TK no longer thought much about it. 

Then it occurred to him. Ken thought that he and Kari were walking out together! Why did everyone think that he and Kari were dating? Sure, the two of them hung around a lot more with each other than with their other two friends, but that was because they had known each other a lot longer than anyone else. They were best friends. It should be obvious that they would hang out a lot with each other.

A sudden thought occurred to him. 

_Should _he be bothered?

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Matt strolled through the halls of the school, flocked by his ever-present fans. They gaggled around him eagerly, babbling things Matt quite didn't listen to. They hung around him as he left the school but he ordered them to go home. Most did, fearing to have the famous rock star displeased with them should they disobey and stick around to worship him more, but some diehards didn't seem to care and continued to cling to him. He managed to get rid of them through bribery. He wasn't too keen on the lack of morality involved in the activity, but at least it got them off his trail.

His schedule for the next three days would be rather busy, though, thanks to his evasive maneuver. But that was merely a small payment for the price of freedom…in a way.

He smiled, relaxed now, and continued to walk down the sidewalks of Odaiba. The day was bright, the sky was unnaturally blue, and the fans, at the moment, were gone but still pining away for him.

Things were good. And, of course, whenever things are good, Fate always has a way of bringing good things into the polar opposite.

Matt, upon turning a corner, saw Sora walking ahead of him. She seemed to be struggling with several books piled up in her arms and a large duffel bag. He stopped in his tracks, debating whether to help her out or to simply leave her alone. Helping her would probably lead to another mind-wrangling argument with Sora, but leaving her alone wouldn't work, either. Although he knew his conscience wouldn't bug him if he didn't help her, he knew that it was necessary.

Chloris and Aki's 'request' hung heavily in his mind. Already, he had done what they wanted—he didn't retaliate on Sora's latest gesture of her affection for him: stealing his gym clothes and stashing them in the girl's locker room. (She was an artful little pest.) He knew that they would never leave him alone until he and Sora had patched up the hole that had formed upon his simple act of opening a door.

Matt believed that it was a pointless gesture—all he had to do was step on the patch and it would give way. Why bother wasting time with all this stitching? (A/N: What the heck is he talking about?)

He was on his way to band practice and as things were, he was running late. Either way, he noted with a twinge of regret, a confrontation with Sora Takenouchi was inevitable. They both seemed to be heading the same way.

He sighed, bracing himself, and sped up walking, trying not to jostle his guitar. "Hey, Takenouchi," he called to her.

She stopped and turned around carefully. When she saw it was him, she scowled and turned away, continuing her delicate struggle with the teetering books as she went on down the sidewalk. Just as a few books were about to topple over, Matt was there in time to catch them.

He handed them back to her wordlessly and she took them, equally silent, and walked on. Matt arched his eyebrow and hurried after her. "What, no thank you for saving your precious books?"

She looked at him curiously. "Why would you care?"

He paused then shrugged. "Actually, I don't. I just thought that propriety demanded a thank you whenever people do favors."

She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't ask you to help me," Sora replied tartly. "I didn't ask for a favor. You just did it yourself. I don't owe you anything."

He sighed irritably. "I didn't say you owed me anything. You don't."

"All right, then." Sora nodded to him and turned around to make her way down the sidewalk.

He caught up with her. "Hello?"

She frowned at him. "What now? If you're intending to bother me, you've done it. I'm too tired to deal with whiny bigheaded head bangers. Now go away and let me go on life without having to bear the blame of strangling a person to death in a black rage. I understand that that is the thing angels tend to kick people out of heaven for. At the moment, my rage is turning an unhealthy gray shade." She looked at him pointedly. "It would be wise for you to go away now."

"And what makes you think you'll go to heaven?" Matt retorted. "Besides, I'm still waiting for my thanks."

"You'll be waiting for a long time, then, because I'm running late," she answered. "Besides, I thought I didn't owe you anything." 

He let out an explosive sigh. "Would it kill you to thank anyone?"

She cocked her head thoughtfully. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

There was a short silence before Matt admitted, "I wouldn't be keeled over with devastation if that's what you mean."

Sora's face darkened and she glared at him. "You're a jerk, you know?" Haughtily, she stomped away the last few meters of sidewalk and turned the corner, disappearing quickly.

Matt stood there for a moment. He scowled. "That's what I get for trying to be nice to Takenouchi. Well, never mind," he declared to a bright blue bird staring at him. "It won't happen again." He paused. "Until it does. Damn."

He stalked down the sidewalk and crossed the street. As he trudged through the streets of the city, his mind turned from a certain red-haired nuisance and deviated towards the practice today. Their manager had called in with an announcement. Matt had no idea what she was up to.

When he arrived at the drummer's home for practice, he entered the building and hours later, he left in a daze. The manager had let out her earthshaking announcement:

He was going on tour in a few weeks.

Matt had protested on leaving so soon; he had just enrolled in school. Leaving so early would cause a steep decline in his already stooping grades. Why was he leaving? There was nothing he could do, however. This was the price of being as devastatingly handsome and famous as he was. (A/N: *snorts*)

He turned the corner—

"OH MY GOD!! IT'S YAMATO ISHIDA!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHH!!!!"

And turned right back around, beginning his frantic run back home. His guitar banged against his back and sent him a spiteful jolt through the guitar case. He winced and wondered, for the first time, how things would be if he were normal.

Hurriedly, he turned his mind from these mutinous thoughts and focused on running. He was heading for the street ahead of him and saw that the traffic light turning yellow. If he could just make it—

His guitar shot him another nasty spark and he jerked up, nearly tripping over a traffic hydrant that wasn't there a while ago. (A/N: *coughs, looking slightly guilty*) He swerved around it and glanced up—

In time to see the traffic light turn a shade of red that seemed to taunt him maliciously.

_Your wanted doom is running behind you_, it seemed to remark. _Enjoy._

Yamato Ishida sighed. This just wasn't his day.

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Sora scowled as she turned the corner. She had already deposited her load in her mother's store and was now on her way to Nancy Takaishi's now. She was going to receive her next photographic assignment. She hoped that Matt wasn't going to be there, and it appeared that he wasn't going that way when she met him on the sidewalk a while ago.

Therefore, she didn't need to bring some pesticide with her when she'd leave. Nancy's house had an infestation in it by the name of Ishida.

She reached Nancy's apartment building and paused outside, wondering whether her sparring partner was there or not. She frowned. She liked her job, so creep or not, she would have to go through his hurricane.

That would be the only use for his hot air, wouldn't it?

She rang the doorbell and waited for Nancy to open the door. She stared at the panel by the door. Takaishi. So she was Matt's mother. Sora could see the resemblance—the good ones, unfortunately.

The door opened and she found herself facing the monster's younger brother, Takeru.

Sora smiled at him. "Hey, TK. Is your mom here?"

TK grinned at her. "She's here, Sora. I think she's waiting for you in the kitchen."

She nodded. "Thanks," she answered, walking inside. She paused. "Your brother isn't here, right?" she asked, hoping for an affirmative.

He laughed. "He's not staying here for the night. He's with my dad today. Why do you ask? You're not one of his rabid fans, are you?"

"Gods, no!" she exclaimed. "Your brother and I—we don't exactly click. We're the jagged pieces of different jigsaw puzzles."

"Ah."

Sora went to the kitchen and saw TK's mother sitting at the table, leafing through the piles of paper scattered over the table. The last time she had been here came to her mind quickly and she winced, remembering the time she had eaten with Matt and Nancy.

"Good afternoon, Nancy," she greeted the woman.

"Sora!" Nancy exclaimed. "I'm glad you've come! I have a new assignment in mind for you."

"So you've said."

The woman looked slightly embarrassed. "I tend to repeat myself every now and then, don't I? Well, that's just another one of my bad habits to pass on to my children."

"What are you talking about?" TK asked. "I never repeat myself!"

"What about the time when you and I went trick-or-treating and you dressed up as a rotten tomato?" Nancy challenged.

"What are you talking about?" TK…repeated. "I never—" Then he sighed. "Very sneaky, mother."

"I rest my case."

Sora laughed.

****

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